Black Roses
by SpazzChicken
Summary: In Albion, dragons are vile and hated. But a girl who has known no family but a young dragon will go to any length to save him when he's in danger. Even if it means relying on a bitter pervert of a Hero. **Under Revision--New Ch 5 Up**
1. Beginnings

This isn't technically a new chapter--just a _complete_ revision of the original. After attempting to write the next chapter for this fic a million and one times... I decided I hated everything about how it began. So, I've gone back and started the story over. While it probably won't seem very different, I've tried to eliminate a whole bunch of useless scenes and keep the characters on a tighter leash. Of course, this might make the beginning feel rushed or lacking--so please send some feedback my way if you find something that needs improvement. :)  
Also, I'm leaving the old chapters up until I rewrite them. They do not match up with the rewritten chapters and won't make any sense. Sorry, I'll try to get the rewritten chapters as soon as possible. ;

* * *

Years had passed swiftly for the Hero, Gladiator. He defeated Jack of Blades and took possession of the Sword of Aeons. The cursed sword that blinded him and persuaded his hand to strike Theresa down; the blood of his last family member now stained his gloves. While the people loved their Hero, they could not let him forget his most vile of crimes, and Gladiator suffered for it. His face seemed to age overnight and he fervently tried to atone for his greed.

Gladiator built his own Guild in Hook Coast, on top of the ruined abbey. Unlike the original Guild, Gladiator vowed his would only train those that would follow the virtuous path. He hoped that the good Heroes he produced would be enough to destroy the evil ones the other Guild occasionally put out. Besides that, the Hero could not bear to go back to the original Guild. Theresa's calm face would flood his vision and Gladiator's massive frame would crumble to the ground. So, he created the Hook Coast Guild, a Guild that he could bear to visit. It was more isolated, and Gladiator carefully screened new initiates. The Guild Master he installed was more of a puppet, and he did as Gladiator commanded.

While Gladiator could keep tight reins on the new Guild, he could not keep a hold on his wives. They left, one by one. Each had the same reason: the man they had married was a strong Hero, afraid of nothing and eternally devoted to his lost family… the man they ended up with was an empty shell of that great Hero. With each wife lost, Gladiator retreated farther into Guild work, devoting his time to training the new generation of heroes. There was only one woman who stood beside Gladiator: the mayor of Bowerstone.

Lady Grey hadn't suddenly fallen deeply in love with Gladiator--she had a more physical reason for staying married. The cold Lady Grey became pregnant. The pregnancy was surprising--the Lady and Hero rarely saw each other. More rare were the times they actually shared a bed. Nevertheless, Lady Grey ended up pregnant, and she wasn't too thrilled. After all, pregnancy meant growing wide and the eventual, horrifying, pain of childbirth.

However, once the babe was born, Lady Grey was quite happy with the whole ordeal--she had an heir to the Grey family. As for Gladiator, the emptiness in his heart was filled with thoughts of his newborn son.

"Sir, the Lady has given birth to a boy! Would you like to see him?" The midwife carefully offered the squirming infant to Gladiator without waiting for an answer.

The Hero gently took his son, gazing at the wisps of dark blonde hair and the nearly translucent skin.

"He's a beautiful baby, sir. And so quiet." The midwife smiled happily.

"Yes… He…" Gladiator suddenly felt a flood of emotion, "He's perfect."

_How is it that I am granted such a precious gift after all that I've done wrong? Have the gods finally given me permission to be happy?_

In the years to come, Gladiator would cease to think so fondly of his son.

* * *

Dim sunlight struggled to pass through the thick layer of grime covering the windows of the tavern in Bowerstone South. The customers inside thought nothing of the gloominess of the establishment, they just wanted a hard drink and a good laugh. The beefy man behind the counter was forever cleaning glasses with an edge of his filthy apron. He only ceased his 'cleaning' when a big spender came up to the bar. This afternoon, the bartender had his eye out for one of his regular customers--a wealthy one, to boot. There, the tavern door opened and the barkeeper set aside the glass.

"Good afternoon, what'll you have today?"

"Let's start with some roasted meat for my darling friends," the customer pressed the girls on either side of him closer, "and a crate of beer for me."

The barkeep smiled, "Of course. I'll send it over in a minute. Sit down in the meantime."

The customer, swathed in dark robes, led his curvy companions to an empty table. He pulled one onto his lap while he whispered some perverse comment into the other's ear.

"He's always bringing his whores around with him. Can't he leave 'em in the Brothel?" A man across the room was glowering at the dark robed customer over a flask of beer. His drinking companion sighed heavily before responding.

"Oh, can't you ignore the boy, Hersch? He's just looking for attention. And you're giving it to him."

"How can I ignore that prissy boy? I swear he must powder that baby skin of his to make it so white. And with those damn dark robes… He's a complete mockery of everything his father worked so hard for. Damn stupid, girly, immoral, little-"

The man stiffened as the 'prissy boy' turned and glared right at him. Smoothly, the boy slid the girl off his lap and weaved through the tavern, headed towards the man's table. Hersch's companion rolled his eyes, "You should've just ignored him."

"Excuse me. I noticed you eyeing my friends. They-"

"I wasn't looking at your girls." Hersch muttered, keeping his eyes averted.

The boy smirked, "Ah, I see. Well, I'm flattered."

Hersch chanced a look up, "Why?"

"No need to be coy. I understand why even a hardened man like yourself would find a stunning man like me attractive." One gloved finger ran down Hersch's face.

"Y-you!" Hersch had stood up abruptly, his chair crashing to the floor behind him. His face was mottled an angry red as he tried to sputter out a sentence.

"Ah, forgive me. I shouldn't have brought it up so publicly. You probably didn't want all these people to know of your preferences."

Hersch gave up on words and threw a punch at his adversary. The boy dodged it easily and stepped closer to Hersch, "Do you really want to mar this lovely face, friend?"

"Hey! No fighting in _my_ tavern. Get out before I call the guards!" The barkeep held the door open, ready to call for the Bowerstone guards.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'll get him out," Hersch's companion stood and grabbed Hersch's arms. "Come on, give it up. He's just messing with you. Come on, Hersch. Easy, easy."

Hersch gritted his teeth but let his friend guide him out the door. The barkeep crossed his massive forearms and supervised the two men as they left. The boy sauntered over to the door after Hersch had left and placed a hand on the barkeep's shoulder.

"Quite a temper, eh?"

The barkeep sighed, "You know I don't like you riling up the customers, Evange."

"And you know I don't like you calling me that."

"You want me to call you by your title, you leave the other customers alone."

Evange frowned a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Alright, I'll leave them alone. But they're the ones who can't keep their eyes to themselves."

With a roll of the eyes, the bartender ushered Evange back to his table. "Just concentrate on your friends, _Reaper_."

The title didn't slide off the tongue as well as 'Evange' did, but the barkeep didn't want to offend one of his best customers. A customer who always brought a bag full of gold and drank till it was empty. A boy whose looks belied his ability to hold down alcohol.

_If only he didn't bring trouble along with gold._ The bartender had walked away, grabbing a glass and resuming his cleaning. He watched Evange from the corner of his eye, wondering how his upstanding parents could allow their only son to fall from grace.

* * *

Night fell swiftly in Bowerstone, and all sorts of undesirable sorts crawled out of the woodworks and into the streets. Faint grunts could be heard from the Quay where fist fights still took place, while ballads were sung in the tavern by passing bards. Once the moon took it's place in the sky, families shut their doors and blew out the lights. Children crawled onto dirty piles of straw and tried to ignore the growls of their stomachs.

In North Bowerstone, however, night was a time for lavish parties and rich feasts. Lady Grey often hosted balls in her home, despite her dislike of people in general. She hosted the balls so that the wealthy wouldn't forget she was their superior in all ways. While the other wealthy families could throw as many dinners as they liked, they would never measure up to Lady Grey's parties.

The Lady's parties were always large affairs, with renowned people coming from all over Albion. North Bowerstone would fairly glow with the light that shone from the Mayor's house. The music and voices that drifted into the night could be heard by waifs in the Quay. Guests would dress in their finest, but Lady Grey would outshine them every time. Her gowns were made of rare materials and brand new designs, and they always complimented the Lady.

In earlier years, Evange had been forced to come to the balls. He had been little more than something to admire and start conversations with. The boy had quietly sat in a chair, concentrating on hiding his boredom and appearing "sweet." He had been given several lessons about proper behavior at these events; mainly to speak only when spoken to and act gracefully.

When Evange reached his rebellious years, his mother decided it was necessary to bar her son from attending the parties. When asked about her son's absence, she would explain that her son was very busy with Guild work. That was true. However, his mother failed to mention that Evange had been dragged from his Guild work to attend the parties many times in the past.

Recently, Evange had begun coming to the parties, regardless of whether he was invited or not. Fortunately, he didn't cause as much havoc as his mother feared he might. He brought no obvious whores or low class drunkards; he didn't swear every other word or talk about his perverse escapades. In fact, Evange wouldn't be noticed if he hadn't inherited his mother's looks.

That is not to say that Evange behaved himself, he just kept his deviousness subtle. When dirty looks were thrown for no reason, a certain boy had probably spread a false rumor. When a man tried to flirt with a married woman, unaware that her husband stood next to her, Evange had probably persuaded the man of the woman's interest and availability.

"Ah, Lady Grey, your home is nearly as beautiful as you."

Pretending she hadn't heard that comment hundreds of times just this night, Lady Grey graciously nodded in thanks to her guest before turning to the next person trying to catch her attention.

"Ah, Lady Grey, your home is nearly as cold and forbidding as yourself."

"Evange… I was not aware that you would be coming tonight."

The boy grinned, the expression making him seem more innocent than he had been for a long time. "I could not bear to be away from you for a moment longer. Surely you will forgive me if I cannot help but be drawn to you. You welcome it from everyone else, after all."

"Gladiator is here tonight. Avoid him or be civil. I do not want this night to be disrupted." Making a graceful about-face, Lady Grey effectively ended the conversation. Evange's grin dissolved at the news of Gladiator's presence.

The two had had a rough relationship since Evange could remember. Gladiator was usually stern but fair with his Guild apprentices. Not so with Evange. The Hero was almost cruel to the boy, for no apparent reason. Unfortunately, Evange took the treatment badly. Since he grew up in the Guild, he had a long time to cultivate a fierce bitterness towards Gladiator.

Despite his dislike for these fancy parties, Evange had no wish to disrupt this one with a conflict between him and Gladiator. He had just come from Hook Coast and had no desire to receive another cold lesson about how one should act towards others. So, Evange smoothly blended into the background, wanting to leave immediately.

"Oh, Gladiator, isn't this your son?"

Evange stiffened automatically, he had failed to get away in time. He tried to loosen himself before turning around with a slick smile.

"Good evening, Father."

Gladiator, dressed in full armor, looked down at his son imposingly. "Yes, Ariel, this is my son." A son that Gladiator had treated callously for as long as Evange could recall. A son that the Hero no longer thought of as a godsend. "Evange, this is the renowned performer, Ariel."

"Lovely to meet you, Sir Evange." Ariel curtsied deeply, looking up through her dark bangs.

Evange quickly took the performer's hand, "It is my pleasure to meet such a stunning performer. I have heard of you even in Hook Coast." With a flirtatious smile, he bent his head and kissed Ariel's hand.

"Oh my, your son is such a charmer, Hero." The performer fanned herself and shot an approving smile at Gladiator.

The Hero was less than pleased with his son, and his face was a clear display of that. Evange noticed the look and was quick to suggest a dance, eager to escape his father.

_Evange, if only I could believe that Elvira had spawned you by herself. The way you use people for your enjoyment sickens me._ Gladiator glared at Evange's retreating back, hating that he was the father of "such a charmer."

* * *

Mornings in Knothole Glade differed from mornings in other parts of Albion. Sunrise was just a guess, for it was nearly impossible to tell exactly when the sun rose through the dense cloud cover. The trees surrounding the hamlet only helped block the faint sunlight. While elsewhere birds were the first to be heard, in Knothole Glade bird song was muted by the constant pound of rain. Some mornings, balverine howls joined the rain in drowning out the birds. Fortunately, this particular morning, the rain wasn't joined by those chilling calls.

People had taken to the streets, ignoring the rain that quickly soaked through their clothes. There was work that could not wait. Outside one house, a large group of men had gathered. Many of the men had rolled up their sleeves, revealing the massive arms of loggers. There were also a few scrawny youths--persons who delivered wood to those who paid for it. Counted among those delivery people was a scrap of a girl.

She shifted her weight, one barely-whole boot sinking further into the thick mud. Despite the mess of dirty blonde hair plastered to her face, the girl did not seem to have any problems seeing the front of her employer's home; she didn't miss his entrance.

"Alright, today it's important to get as much done as possible." The loggers' employer shot a stern look at the group. "We've gotten a large order from Hook Coast, and they want it fast. So you got to work fast."

A grumble rose from the workers but it quickly died down as their boss raised his hands. "Stop your whining. You didn't take this work because it's easy. If you wanted easy, you would have joined the Guild." That elicited some chuckles. "So, everyone step up and take a look at where you're going, I've marked it on the map inside. Delivery boys, step over here so I can assign you some work."

While the loggers filed into the house, the boss herded his other workers to the side. "I need most of you carrying wood from the site to the south docks. You'll be on your own in the woods, and I can't promise that there'll be no balverines around. But there'll be more gold in your pocket if you go for it. Who's up to it?"

No one immediately stepped forward--balverines were a strong deterrent. A bit of gold was hardly enough compensation for the risk of violent death or transformation into one of the cursed creatures. The boss looked through the group, heavy disappointment clear on his face.

"Some of you need the gold, I know. Rolfe, you have a sick mother. Don't you want her to get better? What about getting your sweetheart a wedding ring, Cliffe? Leah, don't you want to clean yourself up a bit?"

Leah, the scrap of a girl, glanced up from the hole she had been making with her boot. She made the mistake of making eye contact with her boss.

"These extra pieces of gold may not seem like much, but they can really help out in both the short and long run. Every bit helps save up for that one thing you want. And maybe those extra pieces mean that you can afford some new clothes, Leah. And with those new clothes, you'd have better luck attracting a man and getting married. Wouldn't you love to be taken care of? Having someone else out there, working, while you sleep in late, would feel so good, right?"

"Actually, I like working and feeling independent, sir."

The boss blinked, "Well, there must be something you're saving your gold for?"

"No, sir. Nothing."

The boss didn't believe that; what kind of girl would walk around in rags when she could afford better? The kind of girl that was saving every gold piece possible for something big. What Leah was saving for, however, was something the boss would never guess.

While a person would mark Leah as average, or perhaps below average due to her attire, there was something rather strange about her. Early in her life, the girl was abandoned deep in Witchwood. With the woods crawling with balverines, one might think it strange that Leah simply survived her childhood. But the reason she survived Witchwood was stranger.

"Well… Rolfe, you're really going to let your mother suffer longer than she has to?"

"N-no… I'll go." Rolfe's voice shook but his face was determined.

Seeing Rolfe--the youngest of the workers--volunteer, several other boys also volunteered. After a few more minutes of persuasion, the boss was satisfied with the number of volunteers. Somehow, Leah had found herself being one of them.

"Alright! Well, everyone carrying wood to the docks should check the map and get out to the site by noon. There'll be wood to carry by then. In the meantime, do what you want."

Leah turned away, intending to visit a friend before leaving for the site. Her pace quickened in pleasant anticipation.

"Boss is hard to say no to, eh?"

Leah glanced behind her, saw Cliffe, and reluctantly slowed her pace. "Yeah. And he knows everything about everyone."

"Except you. He's completely in the dark when it comes to your motives." Cliffe raised his eyebrows, "You do have a good reason for doing this worthless work, don't you? Besides that crap about liking work and being independent."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Shooting a smirk over her shoulder, Leah sped up her pace.

Cliffe shook his head and headed for his lover's house, eager to get a couple of kisses in before heading out to the logging site. The citizens of Knothole Glade treated each visit into Witchwood as their last--for one never knew when balverines or worse would attack.

As Cliffe approached the tavern, he noticed a pair of out-of-towners. Their plain white robes stood out from the dark attire of the Knothole Glade citizens. The two stood to the side of the tavern door, attempting to question those who entered. Cliffe tilted his head to the side, wondering what these foreigners wanted. One of the foreigners caught sight of Cliffe staring at them and immediately stepped towards him.

"Citizen, may we have a moment of your time?"

Cliffe smiled, "Sure. What do you need? Directions to the ships or the Temple?"

"No, no. We're doing a bit of research and require some live balverines. Where do the creatures usually roam?"

"Well… there's usually quite a few near the path that goes through Witchwood. But you can also wander the woods Northwest of here… I hope you've got some amazing balverine hunting abilities. They're tough, you know."

The foreigner who had been speaking just smiled, "Thank you for the concern, citizen. One more question… you haven't noticed any unusual creatures about, have you?"

"Unusual? Like what?"

"Wasps, hobbes, scorpions… perhaps a dragon or two." The man's mouth curved up in a smile, but his eyes were dead serious.

"No, guess I haven't."

"Be sure to let us know if you do. We offer substantial rewards to our friends."

"Sure thing. Hey, maybe I'll stumble on a dragon today." Cliffe barked out a laugh and proceeded past the tavern.

"Perhaps you will." An identical sneer spread itself over the foreigners' faces.

* * *

Better? Worse? :)


	2. The Loss

This chapter has been revised! Yay! Take a peek and see what you think. :D

* * *

The sun had almost reached it's peak above Knothole Glade, signaling the approach of noon. In the dense gloom under the trees of Witchwood, a lone girl made her way to some unmarked destination. Despite the threat of balverines, the girl walked with confidence and didn't waste energy glancing around like a timid rabbit. Her pace was hurried, time would not wait for her to complete her errand.

_Almost noon__…__ I should've come out here earlier. The boss won__'__t be happy if I__'__m late._

Stepping into a patch of brilliant sunlight, Leah brushed wet hair from her face and took a slow look around. A faint rustling behind her almost caused the girl to turn around. But the creature that soared down from the treetops was much more effective at catching the girl's attention.

Gliding on wings that outstretched any man's height, was a dragon. A relatively small dragon, but fully equipped with sharply curved claws and teeth, both natural weapons colored a dark blue. Rising from the creature's narrow back were numerous spikes, varying in length and width depending on their position--the longest running along the tail while the widest rested upon the dragon's shoulders. The rarest of Albion's creatures gently landed beside the human girl, the dragon's slit eyes glowing fiercely.

"Kuyo!" Leah launched herself at the creature, completely unafraid, and hugged it with fervor. The dragon gently pulled it's head away after a moment, and Leah stepped back to admire her friend. "Kuyo… it's been awhile, huh?"

It was true--Leah had been stuck in Knothole Glade the past few weeks. Mostly due to the fact that there had been no opportunities to sneak off into the forest. Leah worked all day, everyday. And the gate in and out of Knothole Glade was shut and locked at night.

"I'm sorry. Maybe we'll have enough money at the end of this month. Then we won't have to be apart for so long."

The dragon, Kuyo, almost seemed to roll his eyes at the mush coming from the girl's mouth. He moved to amble away but Leah grabbed at his tail.

"You could pretend to want to see me, you brat. Anyway, I wanted to tell you to avoid the woods between here and the docks. The loggers are going to be there for the next couple of weeks… But it'd be nice if you could keep the balverines away."

With that announcement out of the way, and with the sun at it's peak, Leah turned on her heel and ran towards the logging site. She tripped over something in her path, but didn't stop to investigate--she was late enough as it was without stopping to look at everything that caught her feet.

Kuyo, flicking his long tail, laid down where he was. Apparently, he had no problem sleeping so close to Knothole Glade. He knew people rarely strayed from the well known path.

Unfortunately, that assumption apparently blinded Kuyo to the human only a few feet away. Shaking uncontrollably, Cliffe crouched in the dense foliage with mouth agape.

As he had headed towards his sweetheart's home, Cliffe had spotted Leah leaving town. Figuring the girl was headed for the logging site, Cliffe had decided it would be safer to travel with her than alone. But when Leah veered to the west rather than to the south, Cliffe didn't hesitate to follow suit. Perhaps the girl was hiding something interesting in the woods--a criminal relative or a lover-turned-balverine. Something that she was saving money for.

It seemed Cliffe was right about Leah hiding something in the woods, but he hadn't expected the girl to be keeping a _dragon_ as a pet. When he first caught sight of movement up above, Cliffe had thought the deep purple he saw in the trees came from some exotic bird. But when the creature descended further and the deep purple blob grew beyond the proportions of a man, Cliffe had paid more attention. What his eyes told him was impossible.

A dragon, probably the last left in Albion. A race thought, and hoped, to be gone from Albion forever. But here was one, hidden near Knothole Glade, probably biding it's time till it was large enough to raze the innocent little town. The sight of the fearsome creature near his home was enough to send shudders down Cliffe's spine.

As if that were not enough, to watch as Leah hugged the dragon without care was more than Cliffe could stand.

_A dragon… Avo help me, she's keeping a bloody dragon outside of town! Does she want us to die? I have to tell a Hero. I have to…_

Suddenly, Cliffe recalled the foreigners he had spoken to the day before. They had been capturing strange animals, perhaps they would take the dragon away from here for good.

Once Leah had run off, tripping on his foot as she went by, Cliffe had swallowed his shock. As silently as his shaking limbs allowed, Cliffe edged away from his hiding spot. Turning towards Knothole Glade, the man ignored the fact that the sun hung straight overhead and that he was going to be late for work.

* * *

Leah silently berated herself for choosing such a bad time to visit Kuyo. She could have stopped by _after_ work, but no. She had to go the second she had a free minute.

The girl sighed in frustration. There was no way she'd be on time, and the site supervisor would definitely suggest a large cut from her pay. Which meant there was no point in volunteering for the work because her bonus was going to be cut anyways.

"I should just head back… tell the boss that something came up. Maybe he'll still give me full pay today…"

The sentence trailed off as Leah walked into the logging site. A violent shudder ran down her spine.

Loggers hacked at trees, fellow delivery persons gathered the ready wood. Nothing was especially wrong. But _something_ wasn't right. Leah had little time to decipher her strange premonition before the site supervisor caught sight of her.

"You!" The man stormed over, "you a delivery girl? What took you so bloody long to get here?!"

"I… got kind of lost on the way." The girl sheepishly shrugged her shoulders.

"Lost? What kind of decent delivery worker gets _lost_?!" The supervisor huffed angrily, "I hope you know this will _greatly_ affect your pay. No one gets away with being late!"

Leah nodded her understanding, disappointed that she had so accurately foretold her supervisor's reaction. This once, she wouldn't have minded being wrong.

"Now… why don't you get to work, you lazy girl? Grab as much as you can and get down to the docks. And this time," the supervisor paused for dramatic effect, "_don't_ _get lost_."

"Yes sir." Leah shuffled towards the growing pile of wood, silently grumbling about the waste it had been to volunteer for this work. She shot a dirty look over her shoulder at the supervisor before she left the site… but made sure he didn't catch it.

As Leah began to turn away, something caught her eye. And she realized what had caused her earlier unease: Heroes.

To protect it's loggers, Knothole Glade had been contracting Heroes to guard the logging sites. It was a last ditch effort to ward off the ever present balverines. Besides, just the sight of the Heroes put the loggers at ease, though they would never admit it, and gave them the peace of mind to focus on their work rather than the dangers of Witchwood. All in all, though the Heroes often simply lazed around the logging sites, most thought they were worth the gold.

Leah, however, hated Heroes. Especially the newly initiated sort. They were the type of people that went out into Witchwood, _eager_ to encounter some aggressive creature. They were the type of people that sometimes stumbled upon Kuyo… the type that had to be killed to keep the dragon safe.

Leah had never killed any of these Heroes--she wouldn't have stood a chance--but she had watched as Kuyo tore them apart. Those were… disturbing scenes. The girl trusted and loved the dragon without limit. Still, it was difficult to face Kuyo after seeing him easily rip a man in two. Afterwards, however, Leah would remind herself that the Heroes had been looking for a fight. They just hadn't anticipated such a difficult one.

Sometimes, the girl couldn't ease her mind with that thought. Because there had been times when a Hero hadn't been the one to see Kuyo. Like when a trader's child had innocently decided to wander into the woods. As with the Heroes, Kuyo did not hesitate. Leah could no longer stand to watch her only family kill for her sake.

For the girl knew that Kuyo could have easily flown to somewhere more isolated. But the dragon stayed because Leah could not leave with him. The girl had grown quickly, but Kuyo had not. Thus, he could not carry her across any significant distance. And that meant that he had to kill humans constantly to keep himself a secret.

At least until Kuyo either had a miraculous growth spurt, or Leah secured some sort of regular human transportation for herself. Since a sudden growth spurt was highly unlikely for Kuyo, Leah decided that she would have to be the one to do something. She planned to persuade some ship captain to drop her off in some remote corner of the world. That would cost gold, however. So, Leah had to work in Knothole Glade.

Everything had been going rather smoothly for a long time. Leah secretly believed some bad luck was bound to come her way very soon--it was long overdue.

"Hey, what're you staring at?" Apparently the Heroes did not enjoy attention.

_Nothing at all, jerk._

* * *

While Leah was busy carting wood to and fro, Kuyo was busy taking a catnap. It was one of the few things he could do in these woods--unless he wanted to spend his time hunting down balverines. True, Leah had told him to keep balverines away from the site… but Kuyo didn't smell any close by, so he chose to simply relax.

Unfortunately, others had no plans for relaxing that day.

"Sir, shouldn't we call on more of our men? This is a _dragon_ we're trying to capture…" A white robed foreigner trailed after a similar, slightly shorter man.

"It's a small dragon. We'll be fine as long as we don't take any risks, idiot. Now, shut your mouth." The shorter foreigner shot a warning over his shoulder.

The other man held up his hands, giving up the argument. He wasn't in charge here--if his superior wanted to take unnecessary risks, he couldn't be held responsible for the consequences.

_Though it'd be nice _not _to die._"Use the poisoned arrows. Hit the first time, because it won't give you a second chance." The superior gave the commands absentmindedly, his mind focused on drawing on his reserves of magicka.

"Yes sir." The second man carefully cocked one of his arrows. The tip glistened darkly, coated in rare giant scorpion venom. Anything less potent would hardly effect a young dragon. Gently pushing aside the thick foliage, the man aimed at the Kuyo, steadied his arm and released.

In the second between the arrow leaving the bow and piercing Kuyo's scales, the dragon slid one eye open in mild irritation. Another pair of blundering Heroes had found him. And they were shooting toothpicks at him? Pathetic.

"Got him, sir!" The triumphant yell was ridiculous. The fools shouldn't be so glad to get one hit.

Kuyo lolled his tongue out in a languid yawn as he rose to his feet. He turned his head towards the archer, ready to charge and rip the man's scrawny arms from his body. Before Kuyo could take a step, he felt the ground ripple beneath him and was thrown into the air.

"Should I shoot another, sir?"

"No, the poison will kick in soon. My force pushes should keep him down till then."

Kuyo climbed to his feet quickly, turning to face the men once more. This time he focused on the archer's partner, baring his fangs at the man. He wouldn't be caught by the same trick twice.

"Sir? Are you--"

"Hide in the bushes if you're so frightened! And shut your damn mouth!" The archer's superior raised his hands and spread his legs slightly. He was aware Kuyo would probably anticipate another force push, but he couldn't chance seriously harming the dragon with any other spells. So, force push would have to suffice for the next few moments.

Kuyo began to move forward and, as expected, his opponent sent another wave of air towards him. With a flourish, purple wings unfolded and Kuyo launched into the air. He just managed to avoid being knocked down by the force push.

"Shit! Shoot at his face!"

The archer's plain arrows only grazed the thick scales of Kuyo's face. But they served their purpose as distractions. Kuyo's eyes involuntarily followed the dizzying flight of the arrows towards his face. The world seemed to be melting around him--becoming a smeared painting of dim colors. His wings couldn't flap hard enough anymore, and Kuyo clumsily fell to the ground.

"Is he down, sir?"

"We'll wait a minute or two. Don't want to get stabbed by one of those spikes."

Gasping with the effort, Kuyo desperately tried to rise to his feet and found that his shaking limbs no longer followed his orders. Kuyo painfully sucked air into his burning lungs until it thickened and stuck in his throat.

"Now he's down. Get out your seal and let's go."

Kuyo barely registered the brilliant light that enveloped him as his mind shut down.

* * *

"Alright! The day's over. You can head home now." The logging site supervisor clapped his hands to gather everyone's attention. Though there was no need--the workers had diligently watched the sun approach what they could see of the horizon. No one wanted to be caught after dark in Witchwood, Heroes around or not. "Be sure to report back early tomorrow morning! …That includes you, lost girl!"

Leah ducked her head in embarrassment, gritting her teeth as she heard several of the loggers chuckle. The supervisor just _couldn't _give her a break. Reducing her pay and humiliating her… what a great guy.

_I guess it's good I saw Kuyo earlier, though. It'd be near impossible to sneak off with all these guys around._

Letting go of her irritation with the supervisor, Leah allowed herself a small smile. Her savings had grown wonderfully in the past few years. And she was on the verge of having enough gold to finally go live her fondest dream. Finally.

With those pleasant thoughts running through her head, Leah stepped through the gate of Knothole Glade. She turned towards the small shack she had inhabited for almost five years. Intent to jerk her off course, a rough hand pulled at Leah's arm.

"Hey, Leah. Can I talk to you?" Cliffe, looking ruffled, quickly removed his hand.

"Um, sure. What is it?"

"Not here. Somewhere less… crowded. This isn't something you want people to hear."

"Oh, that's fine. We can head to the wood sheds. There's never anyone there at this time." Leah attempted a smile, pushing down her growing sense of unease. She had known Cliffe for some time, but it was still unsettling to have an older man randomly asking to go somewhere alone with her. _Very _unsettling.

Still, the girl wanted to give Cliffe the benefit of the doubt. So Leah kept her misgivings at bay as she followed Cliffe to the wood sheds. Once there, Cliffe released a shuddering sigh before turning to face Leah.

"I saw you earlier today."

After waiting a few moments for the man to speak further, Leah shrugged her shoulders. "And?"

"I saw you with…" Here Cliffe leaned in and lowered his voice. "The dragon."

Those words sent Leah's heart plummeting to the ground. Everything had suddenly become terribly complicated. Would Cliffe have to be bribed to keep quiet? Would he want something other than gold? Or would Kuyo have to kill him, too?

"I've known you for the past year or so… I know you're a decent girl. Working hard and all. I don't want to see you thrown in Bargate for knowing the whereabouts of a dragon and saying nothing…"

_Oh Avo… please don't ask for anything. Please just promise you'll keep quiet because you care for me in a platonic way and want me to be happy._

"So _I _told someone."

Things stood still for a moment. Her heart had been on the ground, now it seemed that Cliffe had crushed it beneath his heel. At least, Leah couldn't feel it beating anymore.

"They told me they'd take care of it. That they would take it away. I'm thinking of you and I'm thinking of this town. Of these people. Maybe the dragon had you under some sort of spell--but you have to understand that it could have killed us at any time! …Leah?"

"…Someday… I'll come back and _kill_ you." The words left her mouth without Leah noticing how venomous they were. She was already sprinting for her 'house.'

Throwing open the flimsy door of her wood shed, Leah stomped towards her bed roll. Ignoring the fact that she was tramping mud everywhere, Leah unearthed her gold from it's hiding place beneath a loose floorboard. Without another look, she dashed out the door and for the town gate. Cliffe was nowhere to be seen, and the girl was vaguely relieved. If the idiot had tried to talk to her again, Leah might have been completely overcome by anger. Then there would be a messy Cliffe stain on the ground.

"Hey, where ya goin'?! The sun's setting!" The guard's warning was ignored and Leah was out the gate. Remembering the path she had taken earlier in the day, the girl quickly cut through the dense Witchwood foliage. It wasn't long before she staggered into the clearing she had last seen Kuyo in only a few hours before.

It was empty save for a few discarded arrows. Ripples had formed in the thick mud, apparently made by some powerful explosion. Those few clues coupled with Kuyo's obvious absence convinced Leah that Cliffe hadn't been talking idly. Her only friend and family had been forcibly taken somewhere. Kidnapped. The girl leaned heavily on a tree, eyes beginning to water.

"All these years… trying to get enough stupid gold to get away from here. You never… never did anything wrong. You didn't randomly kill people. You even helped these stupid people by killing balverines!" Leah slammed her fist into the tree. "We would've been gone by the end of the month… they couldn't wait that long… they…"

_Stop crying and go find him. He needs you._

The girl choked on the sob that was bubbling up. She knew she couldn't just cry in the woods all night. Nothing would change… perhaps Kuyo was being horribly killed even now.

_He _needs _you._

Angrily wiping her eyes, Leah straightened herself. There would be plenty of time to cry later. Now, Kuyo's life might depend on her. She refused to think of the possibility that Kuyo hadn't been kidnapped alive. There had to be hope.

_But how can I save him? I'm not a… Hero._

Though her new idea made Leah instinctively cringe, she had no other options. Calming herself, she quickly made her way down past the logging site and to the docks on the southern end of the island. Her one stroke of luck was that balverines were oddly absent from the woods this night. It was well past sunset by the time Leah stepped onto the sodden planks of the docks. A lone man sat up on board the only ship in harbor.

The man got to his feet abruptly as soon as he saw the girl. He held up a lantern, ready to call out an alarm. It wasn't often a ragged girl stepped out of Witchwood in the middle of the night.

"Please…" Leah held up her hands to reassure the sailor, "are you going to Bowerstone Quay? I need passage. I can pay. Please."

"No, we're going to Hook Coast. Why're you so desperate to get to Bowerstone?" The man narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"I need to hire a Hero."

"Well, there's a Guild in Hook Coast." The man scratched his chin, trying to gauge the trouble Leah could bring. "If you have the gold… we can give you passage."

Raising her heavy bag of gold, Leah took a step closer to the ship. "When do we leave?"

* * *

Decent? Horrid? As you can see, I've sped things up quite a bit compared to the original version. Which I hope isn't a bad thing. :P


	3. First Steps

I slightly revised this one again. Just a bit of tweaking in order to give Leah an excuse for just randomly agreeing to take Evange on as her Hero. Cuz, really, she probably could have waited for someone less... creepy. :P

* * *

Hook Coast was an odd place to build a Guild. For one, the island was very neatly isolated from Albion. Not only was it one of the farthest inhabited towns from the mainland, but until recently it had had little to no contact with the rest of Albion. Transport to Hook Coast was still extremely limited to the average citizen or trader. Boats that were willing to brave the stormy waters around Hook Coast were few. And those willing hardly had the room to take passengers along.

The remoteness of the Guild resulted in small numbers of initiates. Many of the initiates also came to the Guild only to study in it's expansive libraries and to eventually travel to the Necropolis. Heroes still emerged from the Guild, but at a much slower pace than the original Guild's Heroes did. Gladiator was a strict taskmaster--he never coddled his initiates.

The Hook Coast Guild was not only lacking in initiates due to it's isolation, it was also lacking in quest cards. People had a hard time sending quest cards over the sea, and a more difficult time was promised if they attempted the journey themselves. Since Gladiator had broken off all contact with the original Guild, no quest cards traveled between the two. Very unfortunate for the Hook Coast Guild. In fact, if Gladiator, the great Hero of Albion, wasn't the head of the Guild, it would have faded into complete obscurity long ago.

Of course, other than the location, the weather of Hook Coast was none too pleasant, either. Year round, apart from a brief lull in the deep of summer, the bitter cold bit and tore at one's flesh. The sun was merely a decoration in the sky--useless for warming the island. And the temperature was especially unbearable to anyone found outside without proper clothing. Take, for instance, the girl currently shaking in front of the Guild.

Leah rubbed her arms, suddenly made painfully aware of her threadbare attire. Rain she could withstand, but this invasive cold was another matter.

The voyage to Hook Coast had been uneventful. The sailors were natives of the snowbound lands, and they knew the treacherous waters around Hook Coast well. Trusting the sailors to get her to land safely, Leah spent her time devising plans to find and save Kuyo. Most of them were ridiculous and obviously inventions of a girl that had never strayed far from home. At least she had already decided on a sensible first step: hiring a Hero.

The girl quickly opened the large doors to the Guild and entered the large entrance hall. Unlike the bright world outside, the inside of the Guild was rather dim. When building his Guild, Gladiator had wanted a fortress that could withstand an attack. Which resulted in few aesthetic luxuries.

To soften the interior of the Guild, a few of the apprentices had taken to decorating. Candles had been placed everywhere in an attempt to lighten the rooms: a rather futile attempt.

"Hey, close the door, would ya?" A passing apprentice shot Leah a disapproving look coupled with her request.

"Sorry, sorry." Leah quickly complied, embarrassed to have been caught gawking.

"It's alright," Leah jumped as someone else addressed her. With a laugh, a man laden with thick furs stepped out from behind a large stone pillar. "Excuse me if I startled you. I'm the Hook Coast Guildmaster. Do you need something, miss?"

"Well, I… I need to hire a Hero."

The Guildmaster smiled, "Fine, fine. Just fill out a quest card and a Hero will be sent to you when one is available."

"No." Leah said the word more harshly than she had meant to, effectively wiping the Guildmaster's smile from his face. "I need to hire a Hero, now."

"Oh. Well, most of our newer graduates are out on quests at the moment."

"Aren't there any Heroes at this _Heroes_ Guild?"

"Well, yes. However, the cost to hire more renowned Heroes is quite high…" The Guildmaster pointedly shot a look at Leah's ragged clothes.

_I knew I should have cleaned up before coming here._

Leah forced a smile, "I know. I happen to have quite a bit of gold." The girl brought out the heavy bag of gold she kept close at hand.

"Ah, well, that does widen your options," the Guildmaster quickly became accommodating, "we do have a very skilled Hero here at the moment. He's currently speaking with Gladiator, however. Perhaps you'd like to rest in one of our dorm rooms?" The Guildmaster gestured down a dim hallway behind him. Apparently he wished to redeem himself for his earlier remark towards Leah.

The girl frowned for a moment, wondering if it was a trick to charge her extra. But the lure of a warm bed was too much to resist and she eagerly followed the Guildmaster to a room.

"Please relax, miss. I will come by later with a Hero." About to glide out the door, the Guildmaster stopped and put a finger to his lips. "Perhaps you'd like to buy some warmer clothing? The Guild Shop is down the hall, third doorway to your left. …Just a suggestion, of course." With a warm smile, the man closed Leah's door.

_A change of clothes might make me look more presentable… Maybe the Hero will be more likely to take my quest if I don't look like a beggar._

Quickly counting out a few gold pieces, Leah stepped back out of the room and headed down the hallway. While the Guildmaster's directions had made the shop seem near, it took more than a few minutes for the girl to reach just the first doorway. Thankfully, the next two doors were only a stone's throw away.

"Hello?" Stepping into the shop, Leah called out a cautious greeting when she didn't spot anyone. There was no reply. With a light sigh, the girl started browsing the store's stock. Someone had to show up eventually, right?

* * *

Gladiator's room was sparsely furnished: a few hulking chairs, a bookcase that spanned one wall, and a large chest set under the only window. The Hero had a house in Hook Coast, so did not need to keep many things in the Guild. He had hung a few trophies upon the walls, but the snarling faces of balverines and minions didn't exactly make the room feel welcoming. More than the trophies, though, Gladiator's heavily aged face was much more unwelcoming. Especially when his mind was turned to his son.

The Hero looked out his window at the ever falling snow. He had barely moved from that spot all day, his stout legs showed no sign of tiring either.

A quiet knock came from the door. Gladiator squared his shoulders and braced himself for the conversation to come. Without waiting for an answer to his knock, the person on the other side of the door entered.

"Well, here I am, Father."

"Evange… I sent for you three days ago."

The boy glared at his father's back, "I was on a quest. I'm sure that your lapdog informed you of that."

"It was a simple quest." Gladiator ignored Evange's insulting name for the Guildmaster. "It shouldn't have taken you so long."  
"No, killing hobbes or bandits is a simple quest. Escorting fools through Darkwood is a test of sanity."

"Those fools are people that you will someday have to protect in one way or another! That is your duty as a Hero and as the future Bowerstone Mayor!" Taking a deep breath, Gladiator calmed himself and turned to face Evange. "But that issue can wait for now. I have something else to speak to you about, boy."

There was a brief silence. Gladiator waited for Evange to unleash some new verbal assault, but the boy kept his mouth shut. Gladiator cleared his throat before continuing.

"You may recall that, at your age, I had already taken down bandits and a queen wasp… had saved people and begun the long quest of my life. At your age, your mother had already been Mayor for a few years." The Hero began pacing back and forth, "yet you have done very little for Albion's people."

"I've killed more beasts than you did at this age! Is that not helping anyone?"

"You have killed, but not to save lives. You did it because you had to. Have you ever _once_ thought about the defenseless people relying on you to save them?"

Evange leveled a glare at Gladiator, "why should I care about those worthless maggots? Have you ever seen them at leisure? They don't love Heroes if we're not standing between them and immediate death. Don't you remember that they never once tried to understand why you killed your sis--"

"Quiet!" The Hero's face was a mask of rage. "Say another word and I'll…" Gladiator lifted an armored hand and held it next to Evange's face.

"Hit me?" The boy sneered, "go ahead. Show me how much you really hate me, Father. You've _never_ loved anyone in your family, have you?"

Gladiator clenched his hand into a fist and pulled it back, fire in his eyes. Evange stood ready to receive the hit, refusing to cower before his father.

Sudden banging on the door interrupted the standoff. "Gladiator, sir?"

The fire left Gladiator and he visibly sagged. He let his hand fall, "You may enter, Rolfe."

The Guildmaster quickly opened the door. He hesitated upon seeing Evange, "Ah, I'm sorry. I thought you were finished speaking. Should I leave?"

"Just speak."

"Well, I suppose it's good that you're here, Evange. I wanted to speak to your father about a quest we just received. Perhaps it would suit you."

If the Guildmaster was expecting some reply to this from the boy, he was disappointed. Sensing that he would get no words from Gladiator at this point either, the Guildmaster continued.

"Apparently it's an urgent quest. A young lady came in, I'd guess from the Witchwood region based on her clothing, and demanded a Hero. She had quite a bit of gold, perhaps even enough for your services, Evange."

"And what does she want?" Evange's voice was oddly neutral, and no insult or snide comment was attached to the end of his question.

"Ah… I did not have the chance to ask her, yet. But she's still here--at the Guild Shop or in one of the single dorms. She didn't want to leave without a Hero. Shall I ask her, and then return?"

Evange shot a sidelong glance at his father, waiting to see if Gladiator would give some reason for him not to take the quest. When the Hero did not open his mouth, Evange looked back at the Guildmaster. "No need. I'll go find out myself. If you don't see me at dinner, I took the quest. Farewell, Father."

As soon as Evange had let himself out, the Guildmaster stepped in front of Gladiator. "Sir? I do not want to meddle, but--"

"If you don't wish to meddle, then don't." Gladiator turned his back to the room and looked out his window.

The Guildmaster sighed, "I wish you wouldn't keep all your troubles to yourself, sir. There are people who are willing to help carry your burdens." Silence met his words. "Well, I'll leave you be, sir. Good day."

Gladiator hung his head. He would not let others suffer his burdens. He was the Great Hero of Albion—he did not need anyone's help.

* * *

After some long minutes of looking through the stock, Leah was ready to abandon the shop. Obviously the shopkeeper was an idiot to leave his shop unattended for so long.

_I could have stolen half his stock by now… While he's out getting a beer, probably._

The girl fingered a sturdy looking pair of boots. Now that the thought had entered her mind, she wondered if she really could get away with stealing something. Sure, she had plenty of gold. But how long would it last after paying the Hero? If finding Kuyo took longer than a few weeks, the girl would have trouble staying fed.

Just as Leah was on the brink of grabbing some clothes and running, she heard the door creak open farther. The girl quickly shoved her hands into her pockets and turned towards the door.

"Um, hello. I was wanting to buy some clothes…"

The girl trailed off. The boy that had entered did not seem like a simple shopkeeper. Mostly due to the fact that on his back was a quiver of arrows and a dagger at his hip. But there was also his unusual… beauty. Pale skin that was almost luminescent, even under the dim lights of the Guild, was offset by dark robes. His dirty blonde hair framed his thin face with a precision that couldn't be accidental. High cheekbones, a gently curved nose, lengthy eyelashes—he was nearly a piece of art.

But those eyes… They sent shivers down the girl's back--though not because they were pleasant to look upon. Utterly black, undistinguishable from the boy's pupils, and completely lifeless.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were the shopkeeper… he hasn't showed up, yet. So I thought you were him…" Leah cringed as she realized she was repeating herself.

The boy ignored the girl's rambling. "So, you're the 'young lady' looking for a Hero?"

"Yes, I'm looking for a Hero. Are you one?"

The boy smirked, "Now what gave me away? My arrows, my blade, or perhaps my knowing who you are? You are a sharp one."

"Well I didn't want to mistake you for someone else, again." Leah frowned. "So, you're a Hero. Are you the one who's taking my quest?"

"Depends, I suppose, darling." Leah winced at the name. "What exactly is your quest? You need some balverines exterminated? Or do you need an escort through some dangerous woods?"

"No. I need you to help me find and save my friend. He was kidnapped."

"Ah, a rescue mission…" The boy put a hand to his chin, "I haven't done one of these, yet. Doesn't sound terribly fun--"

"It's _not_ supposed to be!" Leah glared at the boy. "This is serious. If you aren't willing to take it seriously, then I'll find another Hero."

"Oh, will you? But you're in a hurry… and I am right here, ready to go. Do you really want to waste precious time finding another Hero? Aren't you worried about your dear friend?"

Leah's glare fell as she was reminded of the danger Kuyo could be in. He might be a dragon, but if he could be kidnapped, he could be killed. His life, if it was still intact, could be taken anytime. Did the girl want to waste time being picky about the Hero she hired?

Besides—this thought was comforting, in a callous sort of way—what better sort of Hero to later sacrifice to Kuyo?

A Hero may seem kind, but none would hesitate in taking a dragon's life. Gladiator had made it perfectly clear with his massive dragon hunts that he would spare none of the scaly giants. No matter that there were barely any left in the first place.

The girl ignored the twinge of guilt she felt at sacrificing this unknown boy. _He's a Hero, cruel and unsympathetic. He'd _happily_ kill Kuyo for no reason._

"Fine. What's your name?"

"Heroes don't give their names, dear. Just titles. Reaper, at your command." Reaper stretched out a gloved hand towards the girl.

"Leah," she quickly shook his hand. "How much do you want?"

Evange laughed, "You get to business rather fast. But since I can sense that you aren't the wealthiest villager," his look strayed to her worn clothing, "I will give you a special charge. You feed me and pay for whatever services I require along the way. So, the quicker we find your friend, the less gold you spend… does that sound acceptable?"

In truth, Evange never did any quests for the gold. His mother supplied him with an allowance that could feed the entire population of Oakvale for several months. He would be quite happy simply doing something other than hanging around the Guild. Seeing Gladiator's face everywhere was more than irritating—the sooner he was away from this hellish prison, the better.

"Alright, that sounds 'acceptable.'" Inwardly, Leah rejoiced. Her gold could definitely last for some time if all she had to buy was food for two.

"And where will we be starting our search, love?"

"Witchwood--a few miles outside of Knothole Glade." The girl chose to ignore Reaper's constant use of pet names; it was a quirk that she would put to a stop _after_ they had gotten started. She didn't want to lose the great deal she had gotten yet.

Evange mentally took a tour of Knothole Glade, taking a quick survey of the town's resources. Satisfied, he nodded his head. "Fine, we can stock up on supplies there. No use wasting time here, right?" He smiled blithely.

Leah glanced back at the piles of clothes, "I would've liked to buy some clothes here…"

The boy turned his smile up a notch, "Oh, but the ones you have on now are _so_ becoming."

"Yeah, thanks." Leah made a face. She knew she looked like something fished out of the Bowerstone Quay. "I thought it'd be better if I had some new boots, at least. But the shopkeeper hasn't come by."

Reaper shook his head, "You're a rather good girl, aren't you? Just take what you want. That idiot Roland always leaves for hours at a time." Seeing Leah hesitate, Evange rolled his eyes. "He won't miss it. His wages are paid by the Guild, and the Guild never lacks gold. Hurry, we don't have time to waste on morality."

"Alright, alright." The girl grabbed up some clothes and hurried out the door. Evange quickly followed--even when the girl ducked into the dorm room she had been lent. Leah quickly threw off her sorry excuse for boots and was tugging at her gloves before she noticed Reaper in the room.

"Is there something you want?"

"No. Continue with what you were doing." The boy smiled.

"Um… I'm changing."

"I know." The smile widened.

The girl grabbed Evange by the arm and nearly threw him out of the room. Her glower was withering. "Pervert." And the door slammed.

Evange shrugged, "There are plenty of _shapely_ women glad to remove their clothes in my presence. What would I want with my formless employer?"

The boy smiled in satisfaction as he heard some angry yelling from the room. The quest itself would probably be dull… but at least he had a female to keep him entertained.

* * *

In the dimly lit main hall, the Guildmaster was busy sorting through the Guild's quest cards. They were mostly escort quests: people had heard of the Hook Coast Guild's trustworthy Heroes. The original Guild still put out evil Heroes, and it was hard for the villagers to place their lives into the hands of any of them.

"Old man, I'm leaving now." Evange came striding through the hall, Leah in tow behind him.

"Ah, Evange, wait a moment."

"No time. I'm on a very urgent quest."

"Without your bow?" The Guildmaster grinned as Evange whipped around. The boy came within arm's length of the Guildmaster and held out his hands in silent demand.

"It's been cleaned up, and I had that new augmentation set in. The bowstring was replaced as well, this one shouldn't break as easily. I trust that, just in case, you have spare strings?"

"Of _course_ I have spare strings. Do I look like an idiot?"

"Be calm, Evange. Anyone can forget something important when upset."

Evange narrowed his eyes, "And why would I be upset?"

The Guildmaster gave the boy a pitying smile, thinking of the scene he had interrupted between the boy and his father. He had been around the two for long enough to sense when they had clashed recently. And he knew them both to be unbearably stubborn--neither would succumb to the other nor apologize.

The boy caught the look and drew himself up straight. "I have nothing to be upset about, old man." Evange shook off his serious attitude and smirked. "Now, if you're done being helpful, I'll take my bow and leave."

"Here," The Guildmaster carefully handed Evange his ebony bow. It faintly glimmered with it's new lightning augmentation as the boy secured it to his back. "I suppose you couldn't spare a few moments to tell me what your quest is?"

Evange leaned in towards the man, "The girl is embarrassed to say, but she is dying to get her hands on a real man. And I'm not too proud to be bought." A wink and the boy fairly bounced out the heavy doors and into the bright sunlight. Leah shot a questioning look at the Guildmaster as she followed the Hero. He could only shrug his shoulders in return.

Catching up with the boy, Leah glanced at him, "So your real name is Evange?"

"Yes. Though, as my employer, you should call me by my title."

"I like Evange more. Suits you better…" _Because you look too delicate to be a 'reaper' of anything other than flowers._ The girl kept her thoughts to herself, unwilling to insult the Hero at this point.

"Oh, indeed? You'll soon find that my title suits me just fine. I'm a Hero, not a weakling." The boy narrowed his eyes at the girl, guessing at her thoughts.

Feeling caught, the girl could only smile nervously. She quickly changed the subject. "Are we taking the wood-boat back to Knothole Glade? Or does the Guild have it's own boats?"

The look of complete revulsion on Reaper's face shut Leah's mouth. "We will _not_ take a boat. Are you really so oblivious to the world you live in? Don't you know anything about Heroes?"

Truthfully, Leah had cared little for the lore of Heroes. Besides that, she had few chances to hear anything about them; work had eaten most of her time and energy.

"Apparently I'm missing something… do you have some sort of special transportation?"

"I shall show you." Opening his arms, Evange gave the girl a come-hither look. "First, please, come into my arms."

"Pass."

"This is the fastest way, darling."

Leah heaved a long suffering sigh. _Do it for Kuyo._

Restraining the urge to wipe Evange's smug look off his face, the girl came within the circle of his arms. One of those arms wrapped itself around Leah's waist. The other dug inside the boy's robes and emerged again with a small disk, his Guild Seal.

"Now watch as I whisk us away in a magical flash of light."

Leah's eyes widened as the two were swallowed in a soothing blue light and the white of Hook Coast dissolved. Then the light surrounded them completely and nothing could be seen past it. A slow second seemed to pass before greens and browns began to seep through the light.

_Knothole Glade… _The place only sent a pang of sadness to the girl's heart. _Now starts the quest to find you, Kuyo. So please hold on a little while longer, my friend._

_

* * *

_Rejoice, the next revised chapter is going to up immediately. :D


	4. Mysterious Plots

A newly revised chapter. Enjoy.  
(Sorry if anyone thought there was a brand new chapter up... Me and this site apparently do not get along.)

**Chapters after this are originals, and not yet revised. They will not make sense if read after the newly revised chapters (aka ch 1-4), so please do not comment on that fact.**

* * *

Knothole Glade was the same as ever: drenched and dim. From the small cullis gate, villagers could be seen trudging through hard-packed mud. Their endlessly repeating routine hadn't changed. This granted Leah a small token of comfort--perhaps the villagers hadn't heard of her involvement with a dragon. For if they had, her plans would be ruined.

Leah had avoided mentioning the fact that Kuyo was dragon to Evange. The girl was aware of one particle of Hero lore: they killed dragons without exception. Reaper would be no different--so he couldn't know anything beyond the fact that Kuyo was a friend. Of course, Reaper would eventually see what Kuyo was. When that happened… maybe the Hero could be convinced to just leave them alone--death threats from a dragon were fairly persuasive.

"Wonderful Knothole Glade--now I understand how you came upon your sunny disposition."

Remembering the hand on her waist, Leah quickly squirmed away from Evange. The boy rolled his eyes before stepping off the cullis gate.

"Being a native, perhaps you should be the one to lead us to the tavern?"

"The tavern? I thought you wanted to get food to go. We're in a hurry, aren't we?"

Evange waved the question away, "the tavern sells food. And someone there might know something about your friend." Not to mention the cheap beer that would make this beginning leg of the quest go so much smoother.

"No!" Leah whipped around to glare at Evange. "You can't go around asking these people for help. They helped kidnap my friend--and now they pretend they don't know anything about it. You can't ask them anything, understand?"

Raising an eyebrow, Evange nodded in agreement. Silently, he was questioning the sanity of his employer; not to mention whether this whole quest wasn't just a figment of her imagination.

The girl let out a breath and cleared her face. "Alright, then we'll head to the tavern. But don't talk to anyone about my friend."

"Whatever pleases you, love. Lead the way." Evange ducked his head in a shallow bow.  
The tavern was easy to spot, being the largest building about--and the only one without doors. Firelight spilled into the muddy road, coupled with the droning of a mediocre minstrel and harsh coughing. Indoors, the tavern was more appealing than it would have been had it been in located in a fairer climate. However, leaving the rain outside, the warmth of a fire and the thick, sweet smelling smoke made one feel instantly at ease.

"We should hurry. It's too easy to waste hours in here once you get comfortable."  
"No worries. This sort of… rustic charm has no hold over me." Evange shot a smirk over his shoulder as he headed towards the bar.

The barman was half heartedly arguing with a local drunk about his tab; his thick arms casually resting on his protruding stomach, betraying the barman's lack of true hostility. Small blue eyes quickly picked out the stranger among his flock, locking on Evange as he stalked nearer.

"Two beers, a bag of apples, and a few pieces of meat, for the road, my good man." A good natured smile pasted itself onto Evange's face.

"Pff… only two beersh? What a pussy." The nearby drunk sneered.

The insult didn't escape the barman's notice, his eyes darting to the Hero—gauging his reaction. Examining the tavern's visitors with a faint smile, Evange apparently let the insult slide. Before the boy could change his mind and turn on the drunk—for there was something sinister about the boy—the barman quickly retrieved the requested items.

The drunk wasn't done with Evange, though. He sneered at the boy, "Bet you already got a boyfriend, huh? Shouldn't ya—"

Suddenly the man's stool was stolen from under him and he was sprawled on the floor, moaning. Evange turned back to the bar, stepping on the man's outstretched hand, and smiled sweetly as he paid the barman. With a twisting of his foot, Evange calmly walked back to where his employer hovered in the shadows.

The girl eyed the relatively few supplies hopefully, "You think this quest will go well?"

_Well, _yes_. Your idiot friend probably just wandered into the woods after a few too many drinks. After a few hours of searching, we'll find his drunk ass—if he hasn't been mauled by balverines—and drag it back here. Then you'll be _so_ thankful you'll feel inclined to include a bit of this and a bit of that with my payment._

Evange refrained from voicing his thoughts. "I'm a trained Hero, I can do anything, love." He winked.

Leah frowned, worry about whether the Hero was taking this quest seriously starting to creep up. But the hope his words offered was too great to ignore and she grabbed hold of it. If it were false hope, then the truth would soon rip it apart. Until then, there was no harm in indulging in the fantasy.

"Where to now?"

"Witchwood." Leah paused, considering the sun's position. "I think we still have a few good hours of sunlight to search. Just follow me, alright?"

The boy nodded, stepping to the side and bowing slightly to indicate he would follow her directions. Without paying attention to her companion's over dramatics—she had bigger things to worry about—Leah set a fast pace towards Knothole Glade's gate.

Just as the pair was passing the large totem set in a secluded clearing, a man came running towards them. His face was streaked with mud and some darker fluid that matted his disheveled hair. Eyes wild with desperation, the man quickly spotted the bow on Evange's back and nearly barreled into the Hero.

"Hero! Hero, please help! Balverines attacked the logging site—they'll kill everyone!"

Evange carefully extricated the man's hands from his robes and held the mess away from himself. "I am quite sorry, but I am already employed." His light tone was in sharp contrast with the distressed man's plea.

"Are you insane?" Leah jerked Evange to face her. "You have to help! People are being killed!"

"Oh, if you wish me to do something, I certainly can." The boy examined his gloved hand with dull interest, "but it will cost extra."

The man started wailing again, tearing at his hair. "We have nothing else to give! You Heroes take, take, take! You would take our very souls if you only knew how!" With a fierce scowl, the man leapt away, bellowing the logging site's fate through the town.

"Hmm, what a melodramatic man, wouldn't you say?"

Leah had dug out her gold bag and now shoved it at Evange, "Take what you want. But save them." Her voice shook as she offered everything she had. Kuyo would be lost forever… but could she sanction anymore deaths because of her abnormal relationship with the dragon?

Carefully weighing the bag in his hand, the boy scoffed. "They're probably already dead. But if you insist on throwing away gold on fools, then I cannot object. Do you know the way?"

The girl nodded and took off running. She would do this thing… then she would hunt for Kuyo on her own. It would be better that way. There would be no more wretched Heroes to ruin everything.

* * *

It was taking too long to reach the logging site and Leah knew it.

Progress on the overgrown trail would have been slow even if the pair ran, which was no longer an option thanks to the girl's over enthusiasm beforehand. Leah was panting with exertion and the slick mud made even walking hazardous. Still, she tried to make the next step longer, quicker.

Evange had kept quiet, silently cursing the filth that was Witchwood. He was continuously wiping his dripping hair from his eyes or stepping into ankle-high puddles. The boy was tempted to simply pull out his Guild seal and transport himself far from this ridiculous task.

"Are we close, girl? If we don't get there soon, there's hardly any point in going—everyone will be dead."

Leah shook her head stubbornly, "We'll get there in time. There should be Heroes already there…" But why would that man have asked for help if those Heroes had been sufficient to deal with the balverine threat?

Evange had just opened his mouth to offer a retort when an indistinct blur shot out of the woods and sent the boy flying. Leah turned at the wet squelch of the Hero hitting the muck. Her eyes widened as she took in the monster standing on the path.

The creature was crouched in the path near Evange, the fur along it's spine standing rigid. Yellow teeth were displayed in crooked rows as it snarled, emitting a sound that sent shudders running through the girl.

_A balverine._

Fear froze Leah and she watched in horror as the balverine tensed to spring at her, claws poised to splay her innards onto the ground.

A faint glimmer in the air appeared beside the beast before it was thrown into the tree line. Evange stood in it's place, arms raised and skin etched with glowing lines. His breath came hard as he tried to regain it after having it knocked out of him.

The boy glanced at Leah, "Looks like we found the place."

A howl shredded the air as the balverine launched itself back at Evange. The boy barely dodged the attack, diving to the ground and twisting himself around to face his opponent's back. A bright flash erupted from the Hero's outstretched hand, and the balverine screeched in pain.

Evange quickly repeated the lightning strike, his other hand digging through his robes for a will potion. His search was abruptly cut short as the spell missed it's mark and the balverine slashed at the boy's arm.

Leah nearly bit through her lip as she saw the blood spurt and the Hero's arm fall to his side uselessly. She desperately willed the balverine to spontaneously combust, knowing that if the creature killed Reaper she was dead as well.

_A distraction! That's what he needs…_ Leah tried to ignore the bile rising in her throat as more blood appeared on Evange—his robes stiffening with the liquid. _There!_

Leah ran towards a low tree branch, it's sharp needles sodden and heavy. Quickly, she pulled back on the branch, squeezing her eyes shut as she released it. Perhaps, she thought, if she didn't see the act she wouldn't have to believe that she had actually whipped a balverine with a tree branch. _I could have just run for it… but _no_, had to save the pathetic Hero. Good job, Leah._

As the branch finished it's swing through the air with a wet smack against furred skin, the balverine whirled around and bared it's teeth at the offending tree limb. Realizing, the futility of that action, it switched it's sights to Leah. Taking a menacing step forward, the beast pulled back an arm in preparation to strike.

It was a fortunate thing that Leah had her eyes still shut, for the gore that erupted from balverine at that moment would have brought up her last meal. Evange, using Leah's distraction, had downed a will potion. Feeling renewed, he lobbed the largest fireball he could muster at the balverine's back and ducked. The explosion, while not massive, did it's work. The balverine soon lay at Leah's feet, the flaming hole in it's midsection burning away the last of the beast's life.

"What an idiotic diversion." Evange gingerly rose from the ground, cradling his still bleeding arm. "Luckily, we were attacked by the bloody stupidest balverine I've ever seen."

"What?! I just saved your life, didn't I?" Leah snapped her eyes open, leveling a glare at the Hero.

"Oh yes, I forgot how bravely _you_ fought that balverine. How silly of me to think I had anything to do with that."

Leah opened her mouth to offer a retort when she remembered that the boy had, technically, been the one to kill the balverine. Sure, he might have died had she not pulled her little trick, but if Reaper hadn't been there, Leah would _definitely _be dead.

"Right. Sorry." Leah looked away as she reigned in her irritation of being forced to admit her wrongs.

"There's a good girl. Now, shall we get on with this ridiculous idea of saving random people in the woods?"

"Oh! I forgot about the loggers!" And off she ran, frantic to make up lost time.

Evange sighed, "They're probably dead. But let's go run into more balverines, that sounds like lots of fun." He hurriedly cast a healing spell, flexing his arm as the skin and muscle wove back together. In a minute, only a lingering soreness and the faintest of scars were visible. Well, that was better than being dead.

Following Leah's path through the trees—obvious by the fresh footprints in the mud—Evange quickly found the girl huddling behind a large bush. She silently motioned for Evange to be quiet.

"Look," she whispered as the Hero crouched down next to her. Leah carefully moved a few branches to allow Evange a clear view of the clearing on the other side.

It looked as a camp that was recently attacked by balverines could be expected to look. The dead were laid in chaotic piles, blood and viscera splattered on the churned mud. Leah noticed the Heroes that had been guarding the site when she worked there were as dead as the loggers. Balverines did not distinguish between their victims.

"Someone killed the balverines." Evange muttered his observation, "but why did they leave so quickly if—"

A piercing cry split the air.

Goosebumps jumped up on the hidden pair's skin, both of them recognizing the howl from nightmares. Evange, hands already beginning to glow with will, shifted into a more battle ready stance while staying hidden. The boy's eyes roamed the clearing to his left, searching for the beast that had voiced it's displeasure so loudly.

He didn't have to wait long. A blur of white, almost too indistinct to be recognized, burst from the tree line. The creature's cruelly curved talons were coated in blood, teeth likewise stained. It was no wonder the low level Heroes guarding the logging lay dead—few could defeat a white balverine without proper silver weapons. But why were the other balverines lying dead?

"Evange, look!" Leah tugged at the boy's robes, her hand shaking in fear.

Intending to smack the girl for drawing his attention away from the white balverine, Evange turned to her but froze as he noticed what she had seen. Hunched creatures carrying whirling blades and glowing staffs. On their heads, helmets… helmets like the one Evange had often seen in his father's room at the Guild.

"What are they?"

"Minions." Evange shook his head in disbelief. "Gladiator should have killed them all… How can they be here?"

At this point, the white balverine had charged the minions, knocking several down. But they quickly regained their footing. Those wielding blades formed a rough circle around the few that held staffs. The balverine slashed and tore at the blade wielders, blind to the dangerous energy emitting from the minions behind those it was attacking.

"The minions, are they powerful?" Leah's voice shook, matching the tremors in her hands.

The balverine screamed as a blade pierced it's hide. It quickly jumped into the air, only to come down on top of the minion that had dared stab it. With a few swipes of it's long claws, the balverine sent the minion's head rolling.

As the beast turned towards the next minion, a brilliant burst of light enveloped the clearing. All was white for a few seconds, and when the world was restored to it's original state, it was difficult to understand what had happened.

No longer was a fierce battle being fought. The minions milled around a glowing cage that had definitely not been present before, and the white balverine had disappeared completely. In it's place stood a small group of robed and hooded men. They spoke in soft tones, motioning vaguely towards the minions or the cage.

"It will be better if we leave the minions for now. We will need more white balverines soon." The man's voice was cool, detached.

A second man shook his head, "And if the balverine wakes before we secure it properly? Shall we rely on it's kindness?"

"Perhaps your hideous face will scare it into submission."

Deftly stepping between the arguing men, a third man spoke up. "Please, relax. We will take one of the Dreadwings and it will keep the beast under control. The rest we can leave to hunt down more balverines."

The first man shrugged his shoulders, "It is a decent plan."

"I'd feel better if we had two of the spellcasters… but it's a short journey, so I suppose one will do."

The third man nodded his head, as if his colleagues had been the ones to come up with the plan. "That's good. We're agreed, so let's go. We have a balverine to deliver."

One of the hooded men called a staff carrying minion forward. Through some gestures and strange words, he managed to make the minion understand his wishes and the creature whisked the cage—white balverine and all—out of sight with a flick of it's staff. With a few parting instructions to the remaining minions, who promptly loped into the woods, the three men reached within their robes. Drawing forth what could only be Guild seals, the men disappeared in showers of light.

The clearing settled into a heavy silence. Neither Leah nor Evange dared move from their hiding place or speak until they were sure nothing would return to kill them. Finally, Evange blew out a breath and cautiously rose to his feet.

"That was interesting."

"Interesting? No, a bard's ballad is interesting. Stumbling upon some evil scheme involving supposedly extinct monsters deserves an adjective stronger than _interesting_." Leah ran her hands through her hair, "Really, what did we just see?"

"People gathering white balverines with minions." Evange sounded blasé, though he was just as worked up as the girl underneath his cool mask.

"Why, though?" Leah gasped and whirled around to face Evange. "Maybe they were the ones who kidnapped Kuyo!"

"Kuyo?"

The girl blushed, horrified at her slip, though it was a harmless one. _But next time, I might blurt out that my friend is a dragon. Where would that leave me? Alright, control yourself, Leah. You just found an important clue, but don't get so excited that you forget Evange—no, _Reaper_—is a Hero. He's not trustworthy, remember?_

"Ah, that's my friend."

Raising an eyebrow, Evange looked at Leah questioningly. "And? Your friend isn't a balverine, I presume. What does he have to do with any of this?"

"Oh, well… He actually was in these woods a lot. And, well, he-he was always following the balverines around. To study them, you know." A necessary lie. "And if these mysterious people are after balverines, maybe they would be interested in someone who knew more about balverines than anyone else around." Leah paused, "Don't you think that's possible?" _Please say yes._

"Considering the fact that they may just be capturing the balverines for the Arena--no, I don't think it's very possible." Leah's shoulders slumped, but Evange continued on. "However, their getups and use of minions lead me to think that they aren't associated with the Arena."

"So, you do think they might have taken my friend?"

Evange shrugged, "I don't know. It could be coincidence that he just happened to disappear in these woods while strange events are happening. But, Heroes are trained not to assume events are linked by coincidence. So, I suppose we must investigate further into this."

"Good idea, let's go!" Leah grinned at her success to convince the Hero to follow up on these strange men.

"And where are you planning on going?"

"Well, after those guys…"

Evange rolled his eyes in exasperation, "Exactly how are we supposed to do that? I don't suppose you overheard where they were planning to go?"

"No. But they used that circle transport thing; can't you follow them using yours somehow?"

"You really don't know anything, love." Evange drew out his Guild seal, nevertheless. "I can't use my seal to follow them, but I can use it to get us somewhere useful. Say, one of the Guilds."

Leah frowned, "If you're going to waste time going back to your Guild to ask for help after every new development, I don't—"

Practically snarling, Evange rounded on her before she could finish her thought. "I'm not going to ask for help from _anyone_. But, perhaps even someone as idiotic as you has heard of researching one's enemies beforehand? Or should I blindly walk up to a minion and hope for the best?"

The girl looked down, hating to admit Evange was right.

"No suggestions from the clueless village girl? Are you sure, love? Because you would know more than a trained Hero, correct?"

"I didn't mean to insult you. I just don't want to waste time." Leah spoke softly, her own temper threatening to beat the Hero senseless for chewing her out.

"Unless you want to waste time randomly wandering the whole of Albion, we need to go to a Guild. Either one will have heard of some abnormal activity, somewhere. That will give us a better lead than walking around blindly, understand?"

Leah, blushing in embarrassment at her stupidity, nodded silently. Evange, calming down a bit, sighed and rubbed his neck.

"Fine, good. We were just at the Hookcoast Guild, but I don't recall hearing about any suspicious happenings. The Heroes Guild by Bowerstone might be better informed. We'll start there." Smirking faintly, Evange opened his arms. "Come, love, let's go."

Replacing her embarrassment with irritation, Leah glared at Reaper halfheartedly. "Has anyone ever thought of redesigning this transport thing so hugging isn't necessary?"

Stiffly, Leah stepped within the circle of the boy's arms. He drew her closer, laughing in her ear as the seal began dissolving the world around them. "Technically, it's already not necessary, love."

Suffice to say, Evange probably could have avoided some rather painful bruises if he had kept that particular bit of information to himself.

* * *

Well, took me long enough to just finish this one chapter. Not sure how satisfied I am with it (or the directions it took without permission from me x_x), but I think I've kept it to myself for long enough. If anyone sees something horribly wrong with it, feel free to point it out so I can fix it. :)

**Chapters after this one are originals, and not yet revised. They will not make sense if read after the newly revised chapters (aka ch 1-4), so please do not comment on that fact.**


	5. Silly Errands

A considerable amount of time had passed since the last time Evange had walked through the Guild. Still, it hadn't changed in that time. There were still lazy apprentices wandering about—apparently not doing anything beyond gossiping. Some trainers munched on apples near their training areas, half halfheartedly watching over their trainees. And happy little sparrows flitted about everywhere, simply asking to be shot.

"Well, girl, you can wait here." Evange motioned to the wall adjacent to the entryway to the dining room. "Technically, regular citizens aren't really allowed in here. So don't talk to anyone and don't go wandering around."

Leah gave the Hero an exasperated look, "I'm not a child."

Evange smirked, "Could've fooled me." He laughed under his breath at the glare Leah shot him before he stepped into the Guild proper.

The boy didn't bother sparing the dining room anything beyond a quick glance. He already knew the person he was looking for wouldn't be caught dead here—perhaps in the library, but not in the dining room. And, yes, as soon as Evange walked into the map room, he spotted the particular bald head whose owner he so needed to speak to.

Before he managed to put together a witty greeting, the Guildmaster saw Evange and gave him a warm smile. "Well, this is a surprise, Reaper."

* * *

Evange and the Guildmaster had known each other for years. Gladiator had once dragged his son all over Albion with him to introduce the boy to the lands he would one day have to protect. Apparently Gladiator considered the Heroes Guild to be in need of protection after the nasty business with Jack of Blades—despite the fact that Gladiator had completely cut his ties with the Guild when he created his own.

The Guildmaster had always been suspiciously kind to Evange. But not sickeningly so as one that does not understand children would be. No, whenever he had moment with the Hero's son, he engaged the boy in talk of the things he loved. Evange had grown attached to the old man in his days before going to the Hookcoast Guild, in the time when his nurse had walked him to the Guild every other day.

When he was temporarily banned from his father's Guild after a dispute over his training, the Guildmaster offered to take the boy in to the Heroes Guild. But Evange turned away from the offer. If his own father thought him too worthless to be a Hero, then surely the Guildmaster secretly did as well. His offer had probably been born of pity. And the boy was too proud to accept pity from anyone—even the man he had once thought of so fondly.

* * *

Evange was counting on the old man's sympathy to help him in gathering information. As he related his current predicament, he pulled out every old inside joke and kept his tone free of the bitterness it usually contained. But the Guildmaster was very old, and he knew when people were trying to simply get something out of him. And much as he cared for the boy, he wasn't about to be taken in by his act.

"Mm, it sounds as if this will be a rather difficult quest since you lack any sort of solid information… And because you are not part of this Guild, it will not be easy for you to get any information from here." The Guildmaster paused a moment to smile at Evange's sullen face. "But I can help you with this."

"You want something, first, though." Evange slipped back into his familiar tone of voice now that it had proven useless.

"Just a small favor, fully within your capabilities. There have been a number of disappearances in Greatwood, you only need go there and find out what is happening."

Evange looked away, "My father frowns upon me taking quests here." Frowns was a vast understatement—Gladiator had personally vowed to punish Evange harshly and thoroughly should he default to the Heroes Guild.

"It's not a quest, only a favor. Once you discover what's happening, you may return and report to me. Nothing more than that is expected." Again, the Guildmaster paused so his next words would have better effect. "This is the only way you can gain your information."

Though the consequences of doing the "favor"—Gladiator hunting him down and laying him out—could be severe, Evange had already decided he would undertake it. It wasn't an evil favor, just a simple information gathering. He probably wouldn't even have to touch his bow, much less put an arrow to it.

Besides... this was something he could do without Gladiator breathing down his back.

"Fine."

* * *

Leaning against a cold wall, Leah couldn't help but appreciate the warm sun that always shone so pleasantly in this part of Albion. And there was no rain! To a person that had lived their entire life in a place like Knothole Glade and Witchwood, feeling dry was completely foreign. Suffice to say, Leah was in a near-giddy mood.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Leah spared a smile for Evange—no, _Reaper_, as he kept reminding her—before nodding her head.

"Mm, that's good." The boy was looking away towards the woods bordering the Guild. "I'm sure you won't mind staying here for a minute while I run an errand, then."

"An errand? But… we have to move. The whole point of coming here was just to get clues and find my friend."

Waving away her words, Evange began walking away. "I'll be back soon. I am sorry to deprive you of my handsome face for even a minute, but—"

"Just go," was all Leah managed to get past her gritted teeth.

The boy was already turned away, eyes looking past the immediate scenery while he silently planned his route. Obviously distracted, he spared Leah a brief glance over his shoulder, "Don't wander off, I'll be back in a day or so. The Guildmaster has generously offered you a room for now – I suggest you thoroughly disinfect it first." A faint sigh escaped his lips. "See you later, then, love."

Leah unclenched her jaw enough to mutter a half-hearted goodbye – earning her an absolutely _irritating_ smirk. She watched Evange's retreating back but turned away from him before he completely disappeared down the road.

Well, it seemed she had suddenly gained access to the Guild. It was unheard of for someone completely unconnected to the Guild and, despite her worry over the disappearing time, Leah was going to take full advantage of her privilege.

First stop: the apple trees. The girl was a sucker for apples.

* * *

Evange halfheartedly wiped away the sleep threatening to overtake him from his eyes. He never slept particularly well, but he had forgone sleep completely the other night in favor of finishing the Guildmaster's favor more quickly. As the boy stumbled into a rather convoluted mass of brambles, he cursed out loud at his decision.

"'Ey, you 'ear something?"

Evange snapped his mouth shut and froze at the familiar raspy voice bandits always seemed to possess.

"I swear I 'eard somethin' over—"

There was a brief silence when the bandit stumbled upon Evange. The bandit quickly regained his senses and began to call out to his gang. A crack of thunder sounded before he formed words, and he fell to the ground smoking. Evange attempted to rip himself free of the offending bush, cursing that he hadn't thought to use a quieter spell.

"Over 'ere, boys!"

Several bandits erupted from the woodwork, and formed in a semi-circle around the boy. Their scarred faces were equal parts jeers and worry--Heroes were bad news.

Evange smiled at the group, still made immobile by the bush, "Well, this is wonderful. I love parties."

When the bandits exchanged shrugs, the boy pulled the bow from his back. He drew the string to its max and released. The arrow screeched through the air.

A bandit fell to his knees, arrow sticking from his eye. The others unleashed a battle roar and charged the Hero.

The boy threw away his bow in favor of releasing another spell. Bandits erupted in flames. Another went down. But one had avoided the boy's attacks.

The bandit leapt forward, blunt cleaver flashing in his hand. Evange bit back a cry as the weapon bit into his upper arm and grabbed at the bandit behind the weapon. The bandit pushed his weapon further into soft flesh. Evange fired a burst of lightning down his arm. The bandit seized up dropping away still shaking with the electricity. The cleaver fell to the ground and Evange clapped a hand to his arm.

The bandits lay dead and Evange sighed a bit in relief.

Then a hand gripped his throat.

"Welcome to my woods, Hero."

And the world went dark.

* * *

This chapter has come about thanks to an awesome friend of mine who helped with my lame action scene. :D

Also, chapters from here on out are probably going to be shorter than before so I can hopefully put them out faster. I'm going to have a lot of spare time very soon, so I will try to actually get somewhere exciting here. :)

One more note: I'm starting a new Fable 2 story that will involve a few of these characters (few as in probably less than two). It will be somewhat connected to this one and include some spoilers for Black Roses. Not sure if anyone reading this will be interested since it's going to eventually include slash... But not Reaver. I dislike Reaver after he killed Barnum D:

Er, anyway. If anyone's still reading, enjoy this belated update :D


	6. Jerk

Leah took a few steps from the Cullis Gate, holding a hand to her mouth. Her steps were shaky.

_I'm gonna be sick._

Evange casually stepped off, eyeing Leah but not moving to help her. He drew his bow slowly as he heard a faint buzzing. A villager ran past the two, screaming as a lone bee followed him.

Evange sighed and raised his hand towards the wasp. A small spark of lightening flew at the insect, engulfing the small body as it fell to the ground. Evange brought his foot down on it as it buzzed painfully.

"That was a wasp?"

Evange didn't look at Leah, choosing to walk down the main road. He swung his bow in his hands, his face blank. Leah frowned and ran to catch up with him. She reached to her back, bringing out a basic iron sword.

"You're holding it wrong."

"It's not like I've been trained. Just leave me alone."

Evange kept his mouth shut, looking out to the sea that had come into view. He heard more screams and buzzing from the barn area. A sigh passed through his lips before he turned and started to make his way to the screams.

Leah followed, confused at Reaper's silence. She looked at him from beneath her bangs, frowning as she tried to figure the boy out.

"Pay attention to the quest, not me. There'll be plenty of time to look at me afterwards." Evange's face remained blank, despite his playful tone.

Leah let out a low growl and glared at a tree to her right.

_Why is he always like that? He's so stupid! Grr..._

"Save us! Avo save us!"

Leah looked from the tree to some villagers scurrying under the wasp's stingers. She raised her sword, not caring about how she held it and began to run into the fight. Reaper stuck his bow out, stopping the girl as she tried to go past him. His eyes were unfocused and he licked his lips as he looked at the scene.

"What are you doing! We have to save them!"

Reaper brought his other hand out, blue electricity circling it. It took a moment for Leah to figure something out, her eyes widening as she saw Reaper smile in a sickly manner.

"Hey! If you try that all those people are gonna get zapped, too! You can't!"

Reaper paid the girl no mind, caught in a strange trance. Leah cried out and dropped her sword, pushing past Reaper's bow, and ramming into Reaper's side, trying to unbalance him.

_What's wrong with this idiot, now?_

Reaper was pushed to the side, losing balance for a moment but catching himself. Leah fell to the side, tripping over Evange's boots. She brought her arms out as she hit the ground, getting up as soon as she could, trying to see if Reaper was back to normal. When the girl looked up to him, Reaper had nocked several arrows and was aiming at the nearest wasps.

"Lay low."

Leah had a second to duck her head as the arrows flew above her, most hitting their marks. Before she could lift herself to help, Reaper had shot off several more arrows, ridding the clearing of the last few wasps.

The villagers bowed to the ground, yelling praises to Avo for sending their saviors. Leah glanced at them.

_They don't realize he wanted to kill them..._

"We should leave."

"What about the gold?"

"They'll send it to the Guild."

Leah got up, following Reaper from a safe distance. She was still unsure of what had just happened and she didn't want to risk being killed.

Evange kept a blank face while a war raged inside him. He was ashamed he had let himself go so quickly. Usually he could get the quest done before sinking into a craze. Evange didn't want to consider Leah as a factor for letting go so quickly. He didn't want to think she was such a big distraction. He wanted to think he was in control of himself.

_A woman can never control me._

Evange let himself sag a bit, the salt of the sea hitting him. He breathed in the scent, calming himself. Leah noticed Evange let out a bit of emotion as they passed the sea, she frowned and gathered her courage.

"You want to go down to the beach? It would help you-."

Evange had tensed and began to walk faster, Leah frowned but tried to match the boy's pace.

"Hey, I was trying to be nice."

"Trying would be the key."

Leah frowned, glaring at Reaper's back as she fell in behind him.

_Jerk.

* * *

_

Someone snored before turning over, their sheets falling to floor. A thin shaft of moonlight slid through a high window, illuminating a small patch of floor. Leah padded around the light, careful to remain silent and unseen. She held her sword close to her, trying to avoid hitting anything in the dark.

_If I can just get to Kuyo..._

The girl froze as a soft tapping sounded from far above. As she began to turn her head, a small bundle of feathers fell to the ground, landed with a sickening plop. Leah jumped away from it, accidently letting go of her sword. It fell to the ground, metal ringing on the wooden floors.

Almost instantly, some students shot up in their beds, bleary eyed. Leah backed away, desperately trying not to draw attention to herself. One student managed to wake himself enough to get out of bed and look around the room for what had caused the noise.

Leah backed away into a table, causing the books stacked on it to fall to the ground. She winced as the student looked at her.

"Oh, it's the new girl. You know, we don't all have freaky habits of getting up in the middle of the night to break stuff. Go to bed or get out. Avo help us." The boy threw his hands up before heading back to his bed.

The other students followed his example, muttering sleepy insults before falling asleep. No one had noticed the dead bird.

_So much for that plan. But..._ Leah looked up. _Was it just a coincidence that the bird managed to fall-_

Leah stopped her train of thought as she realized something. Birds could fly. The bird had to have been dead already, or at least injured, to have just fallen.

_Then, how did it die?_

Leah sighed, shook her head and picked up her sword. She knew she could just run now. But she didn't have the energy to try. She was beginning to care less about killing this Evange person.

_Maybe I could just forget about it. It's not like he matters to me.

* * *

_

Evange laid his bow down next to him, stretching himself out over the gently sloping roof.

_I'm watching you, girl. Don't forget that._

Evange had thought ahead, wearing thick fur robes to keep himself warm during the night. He didn't sleep very much, and preferred to prowl.

He closed his eyes for a moment, just to relax. When he opened them again, the sun was already high in the sky. Evange sat up, rubbing his head as he looked around.

"I guess I fell asleep."

* * *

Kuyo tried to see through the curtain of blinding white snow, staying low to the ground. He saw a blur of pale color to his right, turning his head too late. Kuyo hissed in pain as a sickle flashed in the light before imbedding itself in his foreleg. Hot blood fell to the ground, a bold crimson against the white snow. 

The dragon tried to dig the sickle out of his leg, realizing his mistake of ignoring the immediate danger. A person jumped behind Kuyo, grabbing a sword and thrusting it between his scales. A roar filled the air, Kuyo turning and knocking the offender away.

A dozen more people showed themselves, their faces hidden behind high collars. Kuyo swayed to the side, his wounded leg crumpling underneath him.

_What's happening? Why is everything so slow?_

The people advanced, Kuyo tried to snap at them but found that he was moving too slow. Things were quickly getting blurry and everything was fading.

_Did they poison me or put a spell on me? Why are they doing this?_

Kuyo barely felt the cold hands of his attackers as they lifted him without effort. He couldn't get his limbs moving and his mind was slowing, as well.

_Girl... I guess you'll have to make due without me. I'm sorry..._

Kuyo let out a quiet hiss before succumbing to his personal darkness.

One of the white clad figures produced a small object from a sack they were carrying. The object glowed briefly, surrounding the people and Kuyo with a dim light before they disappeared.

"Avo save us."

Elisa clasped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide. The girl was crouching on the ground, her basket of food forgotten and upturned.

Elisa had been carrying food home for dinner, a walk she made very day. However, today she had chosen to take a longer route, passing by a pretty little patch of ice. Elisa liked to look at the ice and imagine her future children skating and playing on it.

But as she walked home, she had witnessed Kuyo's abduction. She had dropped her food and her legs were suddenly too weak to support her. Elisa had been paralyzed at first, but quickly started praying to Avo that she wouldn't be noticed.

The girl had never heard of such a thing happening, she has been born into an era of peace. She had never picked up a book detailing battles or dragons. Now, she was suddenly thrust into a foreign nightmare.

The girl eventually got up, stumbling backwards, away from the scene.

_I have to let Gladiator know. He'll know what to do._

Elisa turned around, ready to run to Gladiator and spill her story to him but slammed into someone. She fell to the ground, terrified of who she might have run into to. Elisa inched her eyes up, sucking in a breath as she realized who it was.

_No..._

The girl cowered as she looked up. Waiting for the blow that she felt sure would end her short life.

* * *

A li'l smidgen of a cliff hanger. 

Once again, I must credit the 'pwnsome-ness' (as she puts its) of this chapter to my proof reader.

Thankies to all who read this story and leave me comments. I really appreciate them. :D

As is custom...

...Evange pwns!


	7. A Hero's Tears

Gladiator managed to keep a civil expression around Lady Grey, hiding his distaste in the way she treated people. The Lady had called for him shortly before Leah and Evange came back, Gladiator knew he would have to face her sooner or later. And with Lady Grey, it was always better to see her right away.

"Lady Grey, when would you like to schedule the beheading?"

Gladiator started up as he heard the word, staying silent for the moment. Lady Grey let a few dates slip from her tongue, her mind on other things already. A few more people consulted with Lady Grey about various things before the room was empty, but for Gladiator and his lovely wife.

"What beheading?" The hero wasted no time getting to his question.

Lady Grey frowned, "Just a prisoner the guards found in Bargate. Nothing for you to meddle in."

"How do you know he-."

"She."

"_She_ wasn't put there by Jack like I was?"

The Lady rolled her eyes, slowly making her way to her bedroom. Gladiator followed her, frustrated with her lack of response.

"Well? What proof do you have of her crime?"

"She knows Evange is...not quite right."

Gladiator stopped, despair written on his face.

"Are you sure?"

Lady Grey sighed but nodded, walking into her room, letting the doors fall in Gladiator's face.

_Why must my child undo all the good I have done? Why am I plagued with such a wretch?_

The hero promised he would see the prisoner before the beheading, perhaps there was something he could do. Anything to save her.

Gladiator touched his guild seal, still tense as the blue light wrapped itself around him, carrying him to his home in Hook Coast. It was a matter of moments for the hero to reach the door of his home. There were two things that he instantly noticed.

The first being his door thrown open, letting the bitingly cold wind blow inside. The second brought something close to fear to Gladiator. A long trail of blood, stretching from somewhere in Hook Coast and ending inside his home.

_Did someone leave here bleeding? Or did they come here..._

Gladiator drew his sword, rushing into the house, afraid he might see Evange at the cause of someone's pain. What he saw was worse.

Elisa was crumpled on the stairs, blood seeping from some cut that Gladiator could not see. Her eyes were tightly shut, and she was still shaking with pain. The hero sheathed his sword, rushing to Elisa.

"Elisa! Are you awake? Elisa?"

Gladiator resisted the urge to shake the girl, knowing it would probably cause more harm than good. He cradled Elisa, now seeing the wounds that were crying their crimson tears.

Arrowheads were imbedded in Elisa's stomach, the shafts broken off, while several shallow cuts marked the girl's face and hands. Gladiator prayed silently as he lifted her from the floor, letting her arms dangle.

_Avo, if this was caused by Evange, help me rid Albion of his evil.

* * *

_

Leah leaned on a fence post, sighing as she was forced to listen to a lesson that some scholar was teaching. It had something to do with how the first Guild came about, but Leah didn't care. The snow had stopped falling, but the temperature had continued to drop.

_Is this what they think of as fun?_

The girl looked around the yard, envying the apprentices who didn't have to be training at the moment. She caught sight of a group of people rushing out of the Guild, among them, the Guild Master. Leah was amazed to see the Guild Master look so... calm.

_I wonder what's happening out there..._

"You might want to start paying attention."

Leah looked up as a boy leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"Believe me, this is a hard subject. You'll need to remember everything you hear if you plan on becoming successful...Oh, I'm Mathiues, by the way."

Leah tried to smile but she knew it fell short. She knew she wasn't planning on staying at the Guild much longer. There was only one thing keeping her from leaving.

_I hope it'll start snowing again. _

The scholar ended his lesson and he let the apprentices go. Leah started heading off to the dorms, needing to think about what she was going to do next.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" Leah turned at the sound of the Mathiues' voice, wanting to be nice.

"Would you like to get some help with any of the subjects? I know you just got here, so..."

"Um, I was actually just going to... relax. Get my strength up for my melee test tomorrow."

"Oh," Mathiues looked down, "Well, maybe I can help you with that, instead?"

_He won't give up, will he?_

"Well, I guess you-."

Leah stopped as she felt a hand slip around her shoulders, a cold voice coming from beside her.

"I think you should leave."

Mathiues seemed to hesitate for a moment, obviously wanting to stay and get Leah's answer, but Evange managed to convince the boy to leave. Leah watched Mathiues, trying not to notice Reaper's dark clad arm still around her. Evange quickly dropped the arm back to his side, turning towards the walls sheltering the Guild training grounds. He rummaged in his robes for a moment before tossing something to Leah. She didn't see it coming and it hit her arm before falling to the ground.

"Oops."

Evange choose to ignore her and started walking away. He was planning on finding out what was happening in Hook Coast that managed to draw the Guild Master out of the Guild.

Leah bent down, scooping up the small object. It took her a bit to realize it was just a rock.

_Did he just throw a rock at me...For no reason!_

Leah got up, throwing the offending rock over her shoulder, rapidly apologizing as it hit someone, and stormed after Reaper.

_I'm going to find out why that jerk picks on me. Then... I promise I'll leave.

* * *

_

People stood silently at the entrance of Gladiator's home. Most were crying silently, quite a few were sobbing and cursing. Gladiator was kneeling next to Elisa beside the Guild Master.

"Just tell me if she'll live." The hero's voice was strained as he whispered.

The Guild Master frowned at the arrowheads in Elisa, "I fear that removing those" he motioned to Elisa's stomach, "will upset the delicate state she's in. And kill her."

"Then what do we do?"

"...Nothing."

Gladiator let his head drop, the sorrow of the Hook Coast people washing over him. He couldn't resist the feeling that this was somehow his fault. For not being home, for not refusing Lady Grey, for...

The Guild Master turned his head as the crowd grew silent. He got up quickly, edging away from the newcomer.

"And what has happened, here?"

Gladiator was standing, sword in hand, in a second. Evange was calmly walking in, his face blank. The crowd quickly withdrew to the sides of the room, and made a barrier around Elisa.

"How dare you come here? Do you think we don't know what you've done!"

"How could I know that you know? Perhaps because I haven't done anything."

"Liar! Liar! Liar!" The people began to chant, while Gladiator's voice boomed over them.

"You dare say that when the evidence lies in...in Elisa? When we all know that you have sentenced a girl to her doom?"

Evange quirked an eyebrow, "I don't know what you're speaking of, but, I assure you, it wasn't my doing. After all, what would I want to do with your pet?"

Gladiator shook violently, anger bubbling inside him with a force so strong he could think of nothing but stopping short Evange's life.

_It's the only way I can repent for ever allowing this monster to be born._

Gladiator lifted the Sword of Aeons, ready to kill his only son. To rid Albion of this great evil.

"Let none pity you when you're dead."

* * *

As Leah made her way to Hook Coast, she noticed most of the Guild people weren't wandering the halls. All she needed was a moment to realize this was her chance to get the weapons and run.

After a few minutes of searching for the weapons room, Leah found it. She quickly grabbed a single bladed ax, throwing the rusty sword she'd been given into a barrel.

_Now, I just need to get out of here... I guess I'll just have to forget about teaching Reaper his lesson. I have more important things to think about. I wonder how Kuyo has been?_

Leah was running through the snow-covered streets in Hook Coast, noticing the same deserted feeling as in the Guild. She was making her way into the outskirts of Hook Coast when she saw people fighting near the lighthouse. They moved incredibly fast, the crowd around them shrieking and withdrawing when the fighters came at them.

"Who's fighting?"

Despite her earlier resolve, Leah couldn't help but wander down to the fight, joining the ranks of the Hook Coast citizens. She backed away slightly when she saw one was the hero from before, Gladiator. He looked like rabid, almost an animal. Then, she saw who the second fighter was.

"Reaper?"

_What are they doing? It looks like that hero is going to kill him. I should just let him, the jerk deserves it..._

Leah clenched her hands, trying to make her legs work so she could leave. But they moved in the direction opposite of that which she wanted. Soon, Leah was at the front of the crowd, in plain view, she wasn't sure what she planned to do. But she had to stop this fight, it seemed wrong.

Leah gulped before stepping into the fight area, wincing as Gladiator's sword nearly took her head. The hero had managed to stop it and back away, realizing that Leah wasn't Evange.

Evange stood back, trying to hide the fact that he was wearing down. He had been constantly slowing down time, to get away from Gladiator's attacks. The spells were costing him a great deal.

_Maybe...I can use the girl to get away._

Evange immediately took to this idea, catching Leah's eye and motioning for her to come closer. Gladiator saw through Evange's plan, and ran at the girl, hoping to get her away. But Evange was quicker, he had Leah in his grasp before Gladiator took a step.

"Step back, _Father_," Evange spat the word, "Or I will make sure this girl never takes another breath."

Everyone instantly went still. Though they didn't know Leah, they didn't want another tragedy. Evange smirked as Gladiator stopped, letting his arms fall to his sides, the sword's tip dragging on the ground.

Leah was as still as the rest of them, not liking the feeling of Evange's arrow pressed against her neck. She couldn't believe he was doing this to her, when she had only come into this fight because of him. But something else struck her, Reaper had called Gladiator 'father'.

_But does that mean-?_

"You're Evange."

Evange ignored Leah's remark, quickly grabbing his guild seal and holding Leah closer. Gladiator opened his mouth to speak, determination written on his face.

"Don't think you'll ever be safe again, boy. I will kill you. I will reverse the evil you have done onto this land."

"Back to killing your family? I seem to recall you've killed your flesh and blood before. Someone by the name of Theresa?"

Evange didn't allow himself the pleasure of smiling, instead focusing on some place far away. Gladiator seemed to deflate at the comment, sorrow overwhelming him. The Hook Coast people instantly went to his side as Evange and Leah were caught in the light of the guild seal.

_Theresa, forgive me._

Gladiator felt the comforting hands of his people lead him home. As a reward, they saw his tears.

* * *

There we go! This was a record breaking chapter, for me. I don't think I've ever written something so fast. :D 

...Evange doesn't eat peacock!


	8. The Loss of Our Friend

Kuyo opened his eyes, but could not get them to focus. Everything kept moving and swerving and it was making the dragon dizzy. He thought he would fall down for a moment, before he realized he hadn't gotten up.

_Why do I feel so heavy?_

Kuyo closed his eyes, letting himself fall back into darkness. He hadn't seen the heavy chains holding his body to the ground. Or the barrier around him.

As he slept, Kuyo dreamed of roses. Black roses, tearing into a human hand with their thorns. Instead of blood coming from the wounds, tears fell. And when they hit the earth, more roses grew and gripped the hand.

* * *

A brief glow of light disrupted the still atmosphere and ruffled the dry leaves underfoot. It took a moment for Leah's eyes adjust to the mellow light now surrounding her. But once her mind and eyes were focused, the girl pushed her way out of Evange's grip, stumbling as she went. The boy made no attempt to restrain her and didn't move towards Leah after she was out of his arms.

Leah stood away from Evange, trying to sort her thoughts. She had come to Hook Coast to find a means of killing Evange. Somehow, she had been sucked into the company of Reaper. She never dreamed the two could be the same.

_What do I do now?_

"Here," Leah was startled out of her reverie when Evange threw something to her, "I won't force you to stay."

He turned away, leaning against a tree, suddenly exhausted. Leah opened her hands to see the guild seal Evange had thrown to her. He was letting her go but condemning himself. He had no hope of outrunning Gladiator without it.

Leah was torn. Should she just leave? If she stayed, would she have to kill him?

_Maybe... I should stay._

Evange glanced back, smirk in place, "What? Have you grown so fond of me that you just can't bear being without me?"

Leah frowned, clutching the guild seal, "I'm leaving." There was a pause, "I just don't know how to use this."

"Think only of the place you want to go. It'll take care of the rest."

Evange's voice was flat, he had turned the other way and didn't see Leah's nod. He heard the faint sound of the guild seal whisking her away. Perhaps she would go to Gladiator and tell him of Evange's hiding place. Maybe she'd pretend Evange never existed.

_Is that what I want her to do?_

Evange slid down the tree, sitting as he reached the ground. He rested his head on his hands, unable to care that Gladiator might come here any moment to kill him. He had set the girl free and he was annoyed with his reaction to it. Evange had hoped with the girl gone he would be released from his strange behavior. However, with her dismissal, Evange couldn't focus on anything but her.

The boy wasn't happy and dark whispers caressed him. Thoughts of blood and pain comforting him. But thoughts and memories were not enough. Hunger had overcome Evange. He needed suffering as others needed food.

_With that wench gone, I can finally have some fun._

It took a few minutes of walking before Evange heard voices and laughter. A dark smile spread over his face, his hand glowing an electric blue. He would paint a masterpiece of horror on this day, while filling his hunger.

_What would she think of me if she knew me this way?

* * *

_

Leah sank to the ground, relieved that the guild seal had worked. Snow gently fell around her, merging with its brethren that had come before it. All around was a blank white cover of ice and snow.

The thought of telling Gladiator where Evange was, hadn't crossed her mind. She had come back to Hook Coast for only reason. To reunite with Kuyo.

_I hope he's not annoyed. He doesn't like it when he has to sit and wait for nothing._

Leah scanned the area around her, seeing the town stretching below her. She could remember parting with Kuyo after they had landed by the town. But where had he gone after that? The dragon would usually stay close by, so Leah assumed he would be somewhere around.

"...Kuyo? It's time to go. Are you here?"

The girl kept her voice low, not wanting to attract attention to herself. If she were found and recognized by the Hook Coast people, they would want to question her about Evange. And she would have no answers for them.

"Ku-!"

Leah let out a sharp gasp as the ground under her foot gave way and she almost fell into a large hole. The girl squinted into the hole, something inside catching the light. Leah carefully slid into the hole, groaning as she saw there had been a normal entrance.

_Looks like this was dug recently..._

The girl went to searching for whatever had caught the light before, her face close to the ground. A small cry of joy escaped her as she saw what she had been looking for. It was a large purple scale, one of Kuyo's, no doubt.

_He's close, then!_

Leah picked the scale up, admiring the color as she made her way out of the burrow. She looked up to the sky, trying to see if Kuyo was flying, when something gave a loud crack under her boots. Leah stepped back, observing what she had stepped on.

It was another of Kuyo's scales. It had already been broken before Leah had stepped on it. When the girl looked around, many scales had been scattered around. And among those was snow stained red.

Shudders shook Leah, her legs giving way without her noticing. She slumped forward, staring with vacant eyes at what she wished was a cruel nightmare. Kuyo's blood and scales. Upturned snow, broken fragments of weapons flung around.

Tears ran down Leah's face, and sobs finally shook away her shock. She hid her face in her arms, trying to block out the evidence. Hoping Kuyo would sail down and show that he was alright. A light wind picked up, snow swirling around the girl.

The sweet smell of rotten food escaped Leah's notice. Elisa's basket left where she had dropped it.

No one but the snow listened to the broken sobs in the air. And it could only offer the cold comfort of death.

* * *

People bustled in and out of the crowded tavern, drunkards pushed aimlessly through the crowd. People shouted over each other to talk and their laughter echoed around the room, there was a group of people singing in drunken voices. The barkeep laughed as he spoke with a customer, setting down another beer, his eyes wrinkling in the corners.

A girl stepped into the tavern, her face shadowed by a hood and cloak. Her steps were heavy and she stumbled as several people bumped against her, running into a table. But she kept going, her eyes trained on the barkeep.

"Excuse me, sir..."

The barkeep looked over, getting another beer ready.

"Excuse me but... Where can I find mercenaries for hire?"

The barkeep smiled in understanding, his plump face pulling back over his teeth. He pointed to a group of people silently sitting at a table, they were all sober despite the beers that sat near them. The girl nodded her thanks to the barkeep and made her way over.

She quickly made the arrangements, walking out of the tavern with four new companions. Three men and a woman, all self trained fighters and avoiding several places where they had committed crimes.

_They're more decent than my last companion._

Leah looked at Albion with determination. Nothing would keep her from getting to Kuyo. But her thoughts always wandered to Evange and the girl didn't know why.

_He's gone. He has his own life to live just like I have mine._

Still, Leah couldn't shake the feeling that Evange was the one she was supposed to be traveling with, now. Not these mercenaries. Would they care if she died?

Leah doubted they would.

* * *

"I just don't understand... Seven massacres in two weeks? It doesn't seem possible." The guard waved his arms around, trying to illustrate how strange this was.

"Yeah, haven't seen this kind of stuff since before Gladiator. Real strange stuff, it is."

The two guards walked in silence, making sure all the traders were nestled in their tents.

Over the past few weeks, numerous people had been cut down while traveling between towns. At first, Gladiator had come to inspect the murders himself, but had grown frustrated when all wounds found were evidently made by a blade. There had been no word or assistance from him since then.

Lady Grey had posted guards out to help protect travelers. She knew Bowerstone needed the trade to survive. The people were joyed that their mayor cared so much that she would send such skilled guards to protect them.

The eternal darkness that hung over Darkwood seemed to hide malicious secrets tonight. The traders slept comfortably under the watchful eyes of their protectors. The guards kept weapons in hand and their eyes didn't stop moving.

Since guards had been posted, no new murders. At least, not any that were found. Some people whispered about the lone travelers who had been forced to walking through Darkwood by themselves or suffering bankruptcy in Bowerstone. Those traders hadn't been seen again.

Lady Grey attacked these rumors head on with her reasoning that no one actually had any record of these mysterious travelers. Thus, they didn't exist.

It should've been a hard thing to tell a dying man no one thought he existed. It should've been... But for Evange, it never was.

All the boy would do was toy with them a bit. He didn't consciously kill them... It wasn't his fault.

_They wanted to die._

Dead bodies littered Evange's safe haven, his clothes and hair matted down with thick, dried blood. Only his teeth remained a gleaming white, flashing blue when his lightening illuminated the air. And that smile haunted the people long after they died, something so disturbingly cruel in it.

Evange had forgotten himself. He'd forgotten control. And he had forgotten to stop.

But something still lingered in his blood bathed mind. A thought that couldn't be erased or washed away. It crawled beneath his skin and threatened to return him to the living. Evange both dreaded and wished for the day the thought would overcome him.

_Does she think of me?...

* * *

_

So we notice that perhaps Evange isn't as 'evil' as some think he is... At least not when it comes to Leah. :D

Personally, this chapter seems short, meaningless, and not very well written. But if you liked it, then I suppose that's good, too.

...Evange is wishing he had a better part in this chapter!


	9. It's Alright

Helpless eyes surveyed the damage. Saw so many broken things. Coated in hollow shells that managed to stay upright. Everything... It was all wrong.

And there he stood. Among the broken, he was king.

His eyes were so empty and his smile numb. A body that did not feel and a soul that was lost. A mind that refused to think of his broken state.

She cried out for him and he turned to her, bloody tears dripping down his face. She tried to hold him, comfort him. He pushed away, smile painted on his lips.

"_It's alright."_

Violet scales fell from the clear sky and he lifted his hands to catch them. The scales broke on his hands and his laugh was hollow.

"_It's alright."_

_--- _

Things faded to a pale yellow, leaves replacing the falling scales. Low, mumbling voices replaced the hollow laugh. In truth, it was a relief.

Leah wiped her eyes, faintly annoyed that her company had woken before her. She hadn't wanted to look weak in front of them. Yet, here she was, sleeping, probably drooling. The girl stood from her makeshift bed of leaves and brushed herself off.

The woman mercenary, Mariah, sauntered over, a small bottle of cider in one hand. She offered it to Leah, who took it gratefully.

"You were twitchin' a lot."

Leah choked on her mouthful, Mariah looking the other way with a distant expression. The other mercenary at camp, Gavin, ignored the women. He focused on sorting through his bag, occasionally throwing objects out of it.

"Were you dreamin'?"

"Dreaming?" Leah had managed to swallow the cider and talk.

Mariah nodded, though she was already walking away. Leah frowned, taking a sip of the cider.

_Why did she ask if she didn't have the time to wait? _

Leah finished off her cider, tucking the bottle into her robes, just in case. The four mercenaries had packed up and were already starting to leave, not caring if Leah was following or not. The girl looked around, making sure she didn't leave anything. She sighed as she realized she had nothing to leave behind.

_Well... Finding Kuyo fast is the important thing. And without anything to carry, I'm much faster..._

The girl looked down, scooping up a leaf before jogging after the others.

"...It can't hurt to have something to carry."

* * *

Leah sat on a tree stump, waiting to hear the information the others had gathered. They had told her not to help. Obviously, they didn't think she was capable of even asking questions. It was rather offensive to the girl. 

Of course, she had hired them to do the work. But that didn't mean Leah didn't want some part in it.

"Looks like we've got a few places we can check out. All of them have had strange behavior..." It was another of her mercenaries, Caden. "In Hook Coast, Gladiator is-."

"Next."

Caden frowned, thinking Leah was being rash, "Strange ships have been spotted around Knothole Glade's island. Nothing has been done, however, in the past few months of the sightings."

_Ships? Maybe Kuyo's on one of them?_

Mariah spoke up, "There's the usual Darkwood crap, too."

Leah looked up expectantly, frustrated when Mariah didn't elaborate. Caden picked up the slack.

"Just rumors of people disappearing. Guards have been assigned to groups of traders and Lady Grey denies anyone disappearing. It's very typical Darkwood stuff."

"Except that this 'stuff' hasn't happened in some twenty years." Yet another of the mercenaries, Brian, added his voice.

"So, doesn't that seem suspicious? I mean, my friend," Leah hadn't mentioned Kuyo being a dragon, "Disappears and Darkwood suddenly becomes the place it once was?"

"So, we headin' there?"

There was hardly a need to ask, the party was already on it's feet and walking. Lucky enough for them, they were in Greatwood. Which happened to be very near their destination.

And the broken boy of Leah's dreams.

* * *

Gladiator rested his head in his hands, tired of the search already. Despite the Guild's help, no clues had been found leading to Evange. People that knew the whereabouts of vagrants were reluctant to talk to the authorities. 

The citizens of Hook Coast had offered their help, but Gladiator had turned them down. He didn't want them involved with Evange, they were too precious to him.

"Sir?"

Gladiator looked up, placing a tired smile on his lips.

"You shouldn't be walking outdoors, Elisa."

"I just brought you some biscuits. They're cold... But I'll set them by the fire and they'll be warm soon."

Gladiator watched as the girl kneeled by his fire. Though Elisa had survived, she refused to talk about what happened. Her uncles had tried to ask her, but every time they did, Elisa would take refuge at Gladiator or Marta's homes. Despite their own curiosity, the innkeeper and the hero didn't question Elisa.

However, because of Elisa's silence, Gladiator knew he was missing out on vital information. The hero was sickened by himself, for he had reoccurring doubts about Evange's guilt. He knew if Elisa could just tell him Evange had attacked her then Gladiator could truly go after Evange. But now, the hero wasn't sure if he could strike the final blow against Evange. That indecision could kill him in a fight.

"Have you had any luck, sir?"

"Not yet. But it's nothing for you to worry about."

Elisa smiled as she gathered her cloak around her, "I'm not worried. I'm sure you'll have some luck, soon."

Elisa quietly shut the door behind her, retreating back to her home.

_It seems like nothing happened to her... She's much stronger than I thought._

Gladiator sighed, forcing himself back to thinking about the search. He didn't realize that his eyelids were so heavy before. Or when they began to slide close.

The hero was awoken by the smell of the biscuits burning.

* * *

"Should we split up, or take the main path then double back?" Gavin idly tightened the straps of his bag. 

"We'll split up. Who'll stay with her?" Caden motioned to Leah.

"I can take care of myself."

_Do they think I'm stupid or weak?_

Leah crossed her arms, looking away. Mariah opened her mouth to talk around her bite of carrot.

"I'll stick with her. Let's meet up at the trader's camp."

The woman was already walking, absently pulling on Leah's arm. The other three wasted no time and split off to search for signs of their employer's friend.

Leah was relieved that Mariah chose not to speak. The mercenary didn't seem very tactful when she did talk. And Leah didn't want to deal with that at the moment.

_I wonder if Kuyo's trapped here? This place is so depressing. I hope he's not here, even if that means I have to search longer. _

Leah let her eyes drift over the twisted trees, making an attempt to look for signs of Kuyo. Mariah didn't seem to be doing a very thorough job, occasionally looking behind trees or rocks, but otherwise sticking to the path with eyes to the sky.

"Um, shouldn't we be looking a bit... harder?"

"Don't tell me how to do my job."

_Jeez, she's sensitive about that._

The women passed through Darkwood with no major mishaps since they had taken the main road. There were large groups of traders that passed them, accompanied by Bowerstone guards. Leah pressed on, passing the groups while Mariah found she needed to constantly start conversations with the people instead of search. Leah was grinding her teeth in annoyance, ready to fire the mercenary where she stood when thunder rumbled over them. A split second afterwards, something flew across the road, hitting a giant stone and falling to the ground. The stench of burning flesh assaulted Leah and several traders were starting to gag. Mariah had walked over with some of the guards, checking out what it was. After several long minutes examining the corpse, Mariah hurried back to Leah.

"It's one of the guys. Gavin."

"What?"

_He's dead? But... how?_

"I said-"

"I know what you said! Are you sure it's him?"

Mariah motioned to the body, "Go check for yourself."

"Uh, that's okay. I believe you."

A guard hastened over, "You two aren't traders. I'll be taking you to Bowerstone Jail."

He grabbed a hold of Leah's sleeve and reached for Mariah. The mercenary quickly analyzed the situation and decided it would be best if she ran. So, Mariah had ducked away from the guard and ran into the dense woods. Leah looked after her helplessly.

_Great. Now, what's going to happen to me?_

"Um, I think you have me mistak-"

The guard ignored her words, pulling her along roughly. Other guards were already ushering the traders away, sword and crossbows in hand.

"There's another one over here!"

Leah's guard dragged her along to examine what his fellows had found. The girl gasped as she saw another charred body. She wanted to deny she knew who it was, but the lifeless eyes that stared up at her were undeniably Brian's.

"Huh. Looks the same as the other one. Anyway, it's not a trader, so dump it somewhere it won't be found."

"What? You can't do that!"

Leah was disgusted by the guard's lack of sensitivity. So much so that she didn't hesitate to confront him.

"What did you catch?"

"Just some girl. I thought I'd blame this mess on her and the Lady would give us a nice reward."

"You mean the Lady would give _you_ a nice reward." Argued the guard who had found Brian.

Leah felt the pressure on her arm tighten as the guard holding her grew angry. He turned away from the other guard, looking down at Leah.

"Time to go, girl. You'll have a nice stay before you're sent to the gallows."

"Why don't you try to actually capture the person who's doing this?"

Leah leaned back as the guard raised his hand to strike her. A sharp grunt behind him caused him to turn around, only to witness his rival fall to his knees. Loud gasps could be heard as the attacker grabbed his side, swaying after his victory. It took Leah a moment to recognize Caden through the darkness.

"Eh, you're the one who's been doing this? Well, I'll turn you and the girl in!"

The guard threw Leah to the ground, drew his sword and began to charge at Caden. The mercenary staggered, struggling to lift his weapon for a second attack. Leah watched in horror as Caden's sword fell from his hands, quickly followed by Caden himself. The guard lifted his sword, ready to strike the final blow.

_No... What have I done? So many lives lost because of me..._

Leah tried to crawl to Caden, ragged breaths torturing her. She winced as she saw the guard swing down.

"No!"

The guard staggered forward as something pierced him from behind. He looked down at his stomach, terror and panic revealing themselves on his face as he saw blood staining his uniform. From his back protruded a long, black shaft, fitted with corresponding black feathers, the tip of this arrow had been able to show itself through the guard's stomach.

The guard cried out in pain, letting go of his sword and crumbling to his knees. He trembled for a moment before another arrow slid into the back of his neck. The guard collapsed fully, his eyes already clouding over in death.

Leah was frozen, afraid that his would be her fate as well. A low chuckle behind her sent chills up her spine, something familiar tugging at her memory.

Her eyes widened as she realized why the laugh seemed so familiar.

"Evange?"

Silence greeted the girl and she sat back on her heels. Relief coated her, but disappointment was just as strong. Had the girl hoped that Evange had been her savior so much that she had imagined his laughter?

Leah pushed her thoughts to the side, crawling to Caden. She quickly checked the mercenary for life, thankful that he had been spared. Leah braced herself and slid Caden's arm around her shoulders as she stood.

_Oh, he's heavy!_

The girl barely managed to lift them both from the ground but she wouldn't stay behind in this forest. And she wouldn't abandon Caden after he had rescued her. So, Leah slowly made her way out of Darkwood.

Evange played with the leaf that had fallen from Leah's robes. He glanced down at the guard he had killed, glaring in disgust. The boy saw Leah's slow progress, knowing she'd make an easy target and decided on something.

_She'll only get into more trouble if left by herself. I'll make sure she doesn't die before... Before she forgets me._

Evange didn't bother suppressing the depression he felt when he thought of Leah forgetting him. But he didn't care what he felt anymore, he knew his life was never meant to be. While hers...

_She won't be a curse on everyone. She can live happily ever after once she's through all this. _

So, the boy followed.

* * *

And there we are. Another chapter for you. :D 

As you can see... Evange has come back, even if Leah doesn't realize it. Oh, Elisa didn't die, either. It seems she's full of health and biscuits!

Forgive some parts... It seems doesn't like putting '?' and '!' by eachother. So, where it's supposed to be a shouted question, it might just be a shout or a question.

I'll see you next chapter!

...Brian and Gavin really wish I hadn't killed them off!


	10. A Dream

It had been a week of rest in Barrow Fields. Leah knew she wouldn't be able to afford to stay in Oakvale since she was broke. So, Leah had pleaded for some of the resident traders to house at least Caden. The traders agreed, happy to help, and drop the bill on the two afterwards.

Leah had left Caden to a potion trader, knowing he would be able to help the mercenary more than she could. So, the girl had taken to the river. She had been in it constantly, annoying the occasional fisherman, by scaring away the fish. Still, it was something to do while she waited.

As for Evange, he stayed away from the trader's tents. He spent his days dozing at Grey House, his nights talking to the Demon Doors in Barrow Fields and Grey House. He preferred the one in Barrow Fields, the other one seemed to be in love with the Grey family. Which happened to include Evange.

At least the Barrow Fields Demon Door didn't constantly compliment Evange or sound respectably perverted while giving said compliments.

Evange had planned his schedule so that he was awake when Leah would be most helpless, and asleep when she could cry out for help. It was unlikely Evange would be unable to protect the girl, now.

At the moment, he was walking out of the Grey House's gates, putting his bow away.

_The undead are active tonight._

Evange walked to the cullis gate, looking down at the dark tents of the traders'. Fires were lit and a few people were still awake, drinking, no doubt. Was one of those people his-

"Eh? Who's there?"

A guard walked up the path, looking around but shrugging as he saw nothing. He saw that Grey House's gates had been left open and quickly closed them, trembling as he did so. The Grey House had always frightened people, it stood for something sinister. Looming at the edge of a peaceful world.

"The Lady may 'ave come from there, but it's much scarier than 'er."

_So you think._

The guard went back to patrol between the tents, allowing Evange to emerge from the shadows and take a seat on the drop off by the cullis gate. He kept his feet well away from the edge, uneasy at the sight of the dark waters below.

"I'll kill you."

The water didn't seem to care about Evange's threat. The boy glared at it for a few moments before he turned away, disturbed by the water. His breathing grew rapid as he imagined the depths swallowing him, taking away his breath, and he would have no way to survive.

_Damn it._

Evange pushed away from the edge, clenching his hands as he forced away his fear. He walked to the Demon Door, immediately starting a conversation about the people that had passed by here.

The rippling sound of water in the background continued to trouble Evange. But he managed to keep his dark thoughts of drowning away.

* * *

Leah sighed in pleasure as she let her feet hang into the river. She had gone to a secluded spot, not wanting to be disturbed by the guard or anyone taking care of business during the night. As precaution, she had brought along a stick. She wasn't completely trusting of the guard's ability to protect her.

_It's nice... to feel the water._

Leah relaxed, lying on her back as her feet drifted in the water. She closed her eyes briefly, wondering if she had ever relaxed this much in one week. She didn't realize she had been so tired, Leah's breath gently stirred the hair that had fallen on her face.

The moon reached its climax before slowly descending, throwing shadows over the girl. A dark hand brushed the hair from Leah's face, lingering on her cheek.

_Even when she forgets about me, I won't forget this._

Evange grimaced as he saw the river, intruding upon his scene. He didn't like the way it taunted him by claiming possession of even a part of Leah when he, Evange, couldn't.

The boy tried to ignore the river, but nearly let out a cry of frustration when he just couldn't. Evange hurriedly went through his options and decided he would only be satisfied with one thing. He slipped his arms around the girl, lifting her feet clear of the rushing waters and carrying her farther onto land, behind a stand of trees. Through her sleep, Leah had managed to keep a hold of her stick.

However, instead of quickly setting Leah down, Evange sat, resting Leah in his lap. He smirked at his triumph over the water that he could no longer hear. Evange allowed himself to stare at Leah's sleeping face, noticing the frown curving her lips.

The boy leaned down, unable to resist.

"Shall I take one last favor?"

As Evange prepared to steal a kiss, Leah muttered something, awakening from a dream. With half lidded eyes, Leah saw someone looming over her, and did the first thing that came to her mind. She swung the stick at Evange's head, woken up fully as the boy pushed her off of him and a loud crack indicated that stick had met skull.

_I should've paid more attention... _

Evange covered his face with an arm, backing away from Leah, hoping she wouldn't recognize him. He needn't have worried, though, Leah was still getting over her nap.

"Who are you?"

Leah got up, holding her stick out in front of her, edging to the side, hoping she'd be able to shout for a guard.

"Well? Say something before I call the guard!"

Leah waited, but silence was her only answer. She opened her mouth to scream but Evange had ran to her, clapping a hand over Leah's mouth. In the same moment, a ray of moonlight breached the trees, casting light on Evange's face. Leah's eyes widened in shock.

_Evange?_

The boy realized she had recognized him, cursing his carelessness. Evange scowled as he realized he had very few options, now.

_It'll seem like a dream in the morning, won't it?_

It seemed like the best option, and Evange gladly grasped it. But he needed to make this seem more like a dream than it was. And he knew he'd enjoy this.

Leah prepared her mouth for firing off questions when Evange took his hand off of it, but was cut off. She squeaked in surprise as Evange caught her lips with his, crushing her mouth. The girl tried to push away, but gave up as Evange's hands refused to let her go.

_I... can't breathe._

Evange ended the kiss as he felt Leah sag in his arms. The girl had fainted, whether from lack of air or just his expert kissing technique, Evange didn't want to know. Now, he just had to do a bit of clean up.

The boy carried Leah back to her spot by the water, glaring at the river as he placed Leah's feet back into it.

_There. She'll think it was a dream. Hopefully, she won't think of me because of it. Though I could understand how she wouldn't be able to forget how amazing the-_

Evange stopped his train of thought, rubbing the spot where Leah had hit him. He could already feel the dark bruise forming under his fingers. The boy frowned as he slipped into the dark silk of the night, avoiding both Demon Doors.

In the morning, Leah would think Evange had been a dream. But that didn't mean she'd forget the dream.

* * *

Mathiues rested his head on his hand, looking out the window at the white expanse of sky. He had an exam the next day on Hero History, but the boy couldn't stop thinking about the recent events in Hook Coast. Especially not the abduction of the girl he had met only recently.

It had taken Mathiues so much courage to even talk to her, and he hadn't even been able to get her name! And now, she had been kidnaped by that- that evil monster. Mathiues felt useless.

_What if she's chained up in some cave, waiting for someone to save her?_

Mathiues started up in shock as a new thought came to him.

_What if she's waiting for **me** to save her?_

The boy hurriedly got up, not bothering to put away his books, and rushed out of the library. He grabbed his weapons and nearly ran to the cullis gate. He hadn't yet graduated from the Guild, so he hadn't been granted a guild seal.

So, with little thought, and no word to anyone else in the Guild, Mathiues went to 'rescue' Leah.

* * *

"Do you want to rest?"

Caden looked at Leah, nodding his head, and plopping down on the ground. Leah followed suit, bringing out an apple to eat. Caden brought out a flask of beer, drinking the substance greedily.

There was a few minutes of silence before either of them spoke. In that time, a few traders passed by, various goods in their arms. Caden took a break from his beer long enough to pose a question to Leah.

"Do we check Darkwood, again?"

Leah shuddered, shaking her head.

"Then, it's either Hook Coast or Knothole Glade."

"Knothole Glade."

Caden threw back another gulp of beer, eyeing Leah strangely.

"I've been wondering why you seem to think Hook Coast has no clues to offer... Or are you just avoiding it?"

Leah hung her head down, fingering the apple, trying to decide if she could confide in Caden.

_He saved my life... He deserves something from me._

"Both, I guess. I already know what's happening in Hook Coast... I just came from over there. And I saw first hand what happened between Gladiator and Evange."

"Evange? The next Hero and mayor of Bowerstone?"

"Yea... Him and Gladiator had a fight. Gladiator is out to kill Evange, now."

The mercenary looked down in dismay as he finished off his beer. He sighed before putting the flask away and turning to Leah, his long hair flopping over his face and ruining any chance of Caden looking serious.

"So, how does that connect to you? You were just a looker on, weren't you? Why are you avoiding the place?"

"Because I sided with Evange."

Leah wasn't surprised with the ease the answer came to her. She knew that if she hadn't sided with Evange, she would've gone and told Gladiator where Evange was. But, the boy had given his life to her along with the guild seal.

Caden didn't press Leah anymore. He got up and reached down to help the girl up.

"We're off to Knothole Glade, then?"

Leah nodded, but stopped.

"If... If I meet up someone else, you're free to go. I don't want you to die because I hired you."

"You just don't want to be blamed for me dying." Caden laughed, "Don't worry, people don't care much for mercenaries. And we don't have long lives."

The girl was puzzled by Caden's light hearted attitude towards death, obviously showing her confusion on her face. Caden's laugh had grown when he'd looked at her.

"Don't tell me it's that surprising! Plenty of people die, it's not a big deal. It's alright."

Caden had turned away, walking and smiling as he thought about his strange employer. Leah followed, silently. The mercenary's words had struck some half forgotten chord, causing the girl to try and recall where she had heard the same words.

_A dream, maybe?_

A foggy memory of lips pressed to hers caused Leah to violently shake her head. She made fists and tried to concentrate on something other than her 'dream'.

_I hate when stupid people constantly repeat themselves... _

Leah glared at the ground, Caden safely staying away. A smirk lifted Evange's mouth as he watched from the shadows.

* * *

A very minor revision in this chapter.

...Leah is glad it was all a dream.


	11. My Mystery Girl

"Excuse me?"

The blacksmith wiped the sweat from his greasy forehead and turned to look at the boy. Mathiues rubbed his head nervously under the older man's gaze.

"I was hoping you would have seen a young woman with blonde hair coming by here? She's about as tall as me... Very pretty."

Mathiues blushed at his last statement, but the blacksmith didn't seem to care. He gulped some beer before speaking in a deep voice.

"You're lookin' for travelers? You might want ta check out in Barrow Fields. Plenty a strangers come through there."

"Thank you, sir!" Mathiues slapped some gold on a table in the shop before running out, a broad smile on his face.

_I'm getting closer to you, my mystery girl!_

Several Oakvale villagers snickered at the strange boy, running through the streets with such a childish look. But, Mathiues couldn't have cared less. His mind was filled with his current objective, saving Leah.

The Guild boy was much closer to 'his' girl than he could've imagined. Just a few more miles up the road, in Greatwood, was where Leah and Caden walked. And, of course, Evange. Though his presence was less easily detected, even in the warm sun of Greatwood.

* * *

In the years since Gladiator had cleared out the various 'villains' from Greatwood, several checkpoints had been set up by Lady Grey. Guards were supposed to look through bags, taking anything that looked dangerous. They were also there to stop unsavory characters from passing into Lookout Point.

But, the guards stationed there weren't as noble or respectful as the guards that worked directly under Lady Grey. They often stole the beer from traders and other expensive things. Saying, with mocking voices, that the items looked dangerous for common traders to be carrying.

Of course, if someone had the money to buy off the guards, then they had an easy road ahead. They could pass through without a second glance towards them, no matter if they were unsavory or not. Gold could blind a guard easier than cutting out his eyes.

Leah and Caden had been waiting for their turn to pass through inspection. Caden had hurriedly drunk all his beer beforehand, and had advised Leah to either dispose of her valuables or just give them up to the guards. The mercenary knew these guards would take anyone they wanted into custody if it suited them. And a young girl would be very tempting to these lonesome guards who couldn't even get away from their posts to go to the brothel.

"I don't remember these stops being here when we walked the other way."

"No one cares who goes to Darkwood. Everyone who goes in, eventually makes a return trip."

Leah sighed, and played with a small rock she had found on the ground. A rich trader had spent the last hour chatting the guards up and slipping them plenty of gold. Most people knew to keep their mouths shut while they waited. The guards didn't like whiners.

"If you really don't want to walk through here... We can go back and use the guild seals."

"I lost mine."

Leah frowned as she tried to remember where she had seen it, but nothing came to mind. She couldn't remember having it after the Darkwood incident. Maybe she had dropped it in Darkwood? It wouldn't be a surprise that she hadn't noticed losing it, Leah had been heavily distracted during the fight and then getting Caden out of the woods, safely.

"Then we wait. There's nothing else to do."

The rich trader finally moved on, sending a cheerful goodbye to the guards as he walked off. The next trader in line wasn't carrying anything and passed through quickly. Then, Leah and Caden were next.

Caden walked in front of the girl, one hand on his gold and the other on a dagger hidden beneath his clothes. He'd give the gold up only if he couldn't scare the guards off. Caden was smart enough not to try and outright start a fight, he was still healing and he was less than confident in Leah's skills.

"Eh, well, let's see you two."

A guard circled Caden and Leah, taking note of their weapons but lack of belongings. As he circled the two, Evange's careful eyes watched the guard. The boy kept an arrow nocked and aimed at the guard. He wasn't about to let his mother's men land a strike on 'his' woman.

"Looks like you just might cause a bit o' trouble." The guard paused to raise his eyebrows, "But, per'aps you'll have the gold for a, heh, _special_ permit."

"And if we were to cause trouble even after we got a permit?"

The guard chuckled at Caden's response, "No skin off my nose."

"I thought you were supposed to guard this point." Caden was hoping this approach would work on the guard. He had been saving his gold for a good while, now.

"It seems a rogue swam past our post. We just couldn't grab at 'im."

Leah frowned, looking over Caden's shoulder at the guard.

_What a liar._

"An' what's this?" The guard came around Caden and shoved his sneering face at Leah.

Evange pulled the arrow back farther, locking onto the guard's throat.

_Take another step and you're dead._

Leah frowned and unintentionally stepped in front of Evange's target point, blocking the guard from her potential savior, while backing away. A nervous smile hung on her lips and Caden tried to edge in front of her, without any success. The guard continued to advance on the girl, a leer on his face before straightening up.

"If you don't 'ave gold, a night with the girl will do."

Leah's face twisted up in rage, hands making fists at her side. A sharp snap could be heard from somewhere out of sight. Evange had pulled back on the bowstring too hard, and the severed ends and whipped his face. Two thin lines of blood appeared on the boy's face as he hurriedly dug a new bowstring out from his robes and tied it back to his bow.

_If that damn girl would get out of the shot, I could've-_

Leah had drawn her ax and was holding it to the guard's chest, nearly shaking in anger. Caden, seeing that the situation had probably just turned disastrous, had drawn his sword and faced the number of guards that had sprung up from the woods.

"Eh, you'd rather die than spend one night with me, girl?" The guard spat at Leah, glaring at the girl when his saliva didn't hit her.

Leah didn't respond except to return the glare, raising the ax so it's blade nearly touched the guard's neck.

"Fine, be that way, wench."

The guard stepped back, pulling out the sword on his back and facing Leah. The girl was too slow to go after the guard while he did this, and soon, she was to busy blocking the man's blows.

"Leah! Run, I'll meet you down the path."

Caden had several guards on him, and it was evident from the pain on his face that his wounds were reopening. He'd be cut down in little time. Neither Leah nor Caden noticed the black arrows killing off the guards that tried to sneak up on the two from the trees. Evange didn't want to risk hitting Leah by shooting at the guard she was fighting.

But, if worse came to worse, the boy would use will on the guards. He couldn't do that, yet. It would mean revealing himself to Leah. And he didn't want her to think he had been watching out for her. And Evange definitely didn't want her to see the still-dark bruise on his head from her 'dream'.

Caden kept crying out for Leah to run, because if she didn't, then he couldn't. He was here to protect her and he couldn't run while she was in danger.

"Damn it, run!"

Leah was pushed back as another of the guard's blows hit her ax. She tried to get away in the brief lull in the guard's attack, but the man grabbed her wrist and wrenched her back, ax falling from her hand.

"Heh, you don't get away that easy."

The path had rapidly emptied of traders who had been waiting for their chance to pass the checkpoint. So, when someone walked up to the fray with a bewildered expression, it was evident that someone would notice him.

Evange almost shot down the new-comer but hesitated. He didn't want to kill a potential ally.

The guard holding Leah had paused, shooting a menacing glare at the person who had walked upon the scene.

_That's... that one guy from the Guild..._

Mathiues took in the scene quickly before drawing his sword, his eyes focused on Leah.

"Do not worry, I will save you, my mystery girl!"

'_Mystery girl'?_

'_**My** mystery girl'?_

Leah was surprised someone had appeared from nowhere to save her, while Evange scowled at the boy. Mathiues ignored the burning in his cheeks and ran at Leah's guard.

The guard dropped Leah, getting ready to block Mathiues' attack. But Leah wouldn't be brushed off so easily, she grabbed her ax, swinging it at the guard.

At the same time, Evange saw his chance to kill off several of the guards attacking Caden, sending off multiple arrows at once, just as Caden fell to the ground.

Leah's ax sliced through skin and muscle but was stopped as it hit the hard ribs of the guard. The girl gasped as blood ran over her ax, down the shaft and onto her gloves, backing away as Mathiues struck. He neatly stabbed the guard through the chest, not bothering to pull his sword out before rushing to Leah.

"Are you alright?" Mathiues grabbed Leah by the shoulders, steadying her.

The girl averted her eyes from the fallen guard, wrenching herself away from Mathiues to walk to Caden. She leaned down towards the mercenary, scared that she had caused his death. But, before she could even speak, Caden had lifted his face, a tired smile on his face.

"Avo must be looking out for me. I swear there was at least three of those bastards on me when I fell."

"So, you're okay?"

The mercenary waved away Leah's concern, lifting himself.

"My wounds opened, and I've got not a few new scratches to keep me busy."

"I should let you go."

Caden shrugged as he sheathed his still bloody sword, "If you want. But, who'll you take, instead?"

Mathiues, hearing the conversation, had sidled next to Leah and caught her attention. He smiled as he spoke to the girl.

"You can take me!"

_I don't care where. As long as you're with me._

"It'd be dangerous..."

"I've had training at the Guild. I can take care of myself and you."

"It'll take a long time."

"I don't have anywhere else to be."

Leah looked down, worried that she might be sentencing someone to death to save another. But, in the end, she really couldn't have a much better companion than a Guild apprentice.

"Alright. Caden, here," Leah dug out her last reserve of gold and handed it to the mercenary, "Is your payment. You are free to leave."

Caden nodded in thanks, heading back towards Darkwood. He called back as he went.

"I'll take my chances in the bandit camp down by Oakvale. You know where to find me if you need me."

Leah watched the mercenary go, hoping he would get there safely. Mathiues stood across from Leah, beaming at the girl, before he remembered something.

"Oh, you already know my name... But I never got yours."

"Huh?" Leah blinked as she realized Mathiues had been speaking to her, "Oh, my name. It's Leah."

"Leah... That's a beautiful name, befitting a," The apprentice blushed, "Beautiful lady."

"Oh, thanks."

Leah had closed her eyes as she jerked her ax away from the guard, wiping the blood from it on the grass and spotting one of the many black arrows littering the ground and bodies.

"Why do I keep-"

Mathiues, having already pulled his sword out from the guard, had come to stand beside Leah.

"Where are we off to? And what are we doing?"

Leah began walking farther into Greatwood, "We're going to Knothole Glade, to save my friend."

Evange followed the two, sullenly. He didn't like the sudden appearance of this apprentice. Especially since Mathiues seemed to be so fixated with Leah. Evange fingered his bow, itching to send an arrow through the apprentice's head.

But the boy had to give in to one fact. Mathiues could protect Leah when Evange was in no position to.

_But I won't let him have the girl. It's pathetic the way he watches her do everything. Coming to her rescue. _

Evange didn't seem to connect those same properties to himself.

And so, the three walked off, heading for the nearest port. Leah hoped they would be able to hire a boat, despite her being without any form of gold.

_Saving Kuyo is what's important. I'll get to him, no matter what.

* * *

_

The funny thing about this chapter...

As I was finishing the second part, I didn't realize I had finished the chapter.

There was more I had wanted to do with this chapter, but it's already a bit longer than what I usually do. So, I'll end it off here It's nearly 12am and I have school tomorrow.

I should thank everyone for their reviews. So, thank everyone!

I welcome all reviews. But I'd love it if you could tell me anything I need to improve on or keep up. :)

...Caden wishes you a happy season as he forever leaves this story!

(Or maybe he'll pop up again... Like Mathiues did. :D)


	12. We Are Reunited

Shuffling footsteps were the only sign of life in the dark hallways. When passing some rooms, faint moans and whisperings could be heard. But silence prevailed over those meager sounds.

A stooped figure, swathed in pristine white robes slid into a room, nodding to the others already assembled there. There was a hushed murmuring, the people talking about the coming decisions and actions that would be required of them.

A heavy door in the back of the room opened, and three people stepped through. With them, they brought instant silence.

Their genders were impossible to tell at first glance, but upon closer inspection, you could barely tell one was male and the other two females.

They each wore long robes, all a blazing white. They all wore hoods, emblazoned with individual insignias. On the man's hood, a black arrow ran forward. The women had arrows pointing opposite ways, also in the standard black color.

"We will begin."

The three spoke in unison, their voices matched to perfection. The assembly rose, bowed and retook their seats.

"Speak of our progress."

A man stood from the rest of the crowd, "We have our needed creatures. Several dozen nymphs, balverines, minions, screamers, and two dragons. And we are being supplied humans as we speak."

"And how goes the positioning of our will users?"

"We have sent ships out to Knothole Glade to find the most favorable locations. Several will users are located in various places in _Albion_."

The man who spoke said the name with disgust, nearly spitting it out. He quickly sat as the three nodded to him. An older woman stood, keeping a docile expression on her otherwise fierce visage.

"If I may speak, My Masters Three?"

A barely perceptible nod from the three launched the woman into speech.

"I have been having visions of a terrible outcome for us. I fear that we are not moving fast enough. If someone against the rebuilding of Our Kingdom-"

"And who would?"

The seeress paused, carefully choosing her next words.

_No matter their power, I must not let them know of the boy._

"I have not been able to see that."

"Then we will not waste time on this vision of yours."

"Please! Even if you do not believe me, you must not tarry! Carry out the ritual, now!"

There was silence as the Masters considered the woman's words. They didn't speak amongst themselves but evidently came to their decision a moment later.

"We will consider what you have said."

"Thank you..."

The seeress bowed deeply before taking her seat.

_If they knew what the boy could do. They would not rest till he was in their greedy hands.

* * *

_

Leah and Mathiues had decided that Bowerstone Quay was their best chance of hiring a boat to get them to Knothole Glade. Neither had brought gold, however. So, they were going to offer to work on a boat.

Evange, had already been able to recognize the path they were taking. And his mood had gotten worse. There was no way he'd be able to avoid notice in Bowerstone. Even if Gladiator hadn't informed Lady Grey about the search for Evange, the Lady would still stop him.

_Mother's a pain. Too bad she hasn't died, yet._

"Leah," Mathiues used the name tenderly, "Can I ask what happened to your friend?"

"He was kidnaped." Leah kept her voice cold, trying to give the apprentice the hint that she didn't want to mention it again.

Mathiues' mouth turned down, and he let his head droop down.

_She's looking for a boy. And she's so dedicated to find him. How can I match up to someone I've never met?_

Evange was only a few paces behind Leah and Mathiues, occasionally ducking behind some foliage for cover if he needed. But, for the most part, the two didn't look back at him.

_This is the first I've heard of this. She was alone the whole time I was with her. Is she lying?_

"Anyway, we should stop for the night. It's still quite a bit away from Bowerstone. It'll be easier to walk there after resting."

Mathiues nodded eagerly, following as Leah turned to the side, walking into the woods and to a dark clearing. Evange had quickly ducked in behind Mathiues, the shadows from the trees hiding him well enough. The apprentice didn't notice Evange's presence, Evange made sure he was near silent.

"I'll clear the spot." Leah began gathering sticks and rocks to make room for sleeping spots. Mathiues stopped her, grabbing the sticks she had picked up.

"I'll light a fire, and we can cook some of my red meat!"

Leah offered the boy a smile, sitting down to wait for him to light up the pile. Evange glared at Mathiues, hoping the apprentice would be unable to light the fire.

"There we go!"

The sticks burst into flame, leaving Mathiues pleased with his work. He quickly brought outseveral pieces of meat and set them by the fire, on flat rocks.

"We can save some for tomorrow, too!"

"Yea, that's a good idea."

Mathiues dropped his smile, scooting closer to Leah.

"You seem upset. If you need someone to talk to... I'm always here... For you."

_I've been there for her much more than you have, little boy._

The whole display was making Evange sick.

Leah nodded, but turned away.

"I think I'll just go to sleep. Thanks for caring."

"What about the meat?"

"I'm not very hungry."

Mathiues looked down sadly, disappointed that his attempt at comforting Leah and bringing them closer, had only pushed her away. He stayed up, waiting for the meat to cook before extinguishing the fire. The apprentice began to eat his meat but he glanced at Leah's sleeping form and felt a pang of sympathy.

_She needs my help. She cares so much about her friend. I have to help her!_

Mathiues shrugged off his outer apprentice robe, a sleeveless shirt under it. He started towards Leah to cover her with the robe but he stopped as a dark shadow slid in front of him.

"Who're-"

Evange glared at Mathiues, "Put your clothes back on and go to sleep."

The apprentice recognized Evange from the Guild and drew in a breath.

"You're that devil who kidnaped Leah!"

Mathiues reached for his sword, which he had set on the ground, but Evange was faster. He had already stepped in front of the apprentice, glaring at him, again.

"Go to bed, _little boy_."

"I won't let you take Leah away!"

Evange turned away, "I'm not taking her away. I'm coming with her."

The apprentice was at a loss. Evange seemed to be sincere and what could Mathiues do? He could fight Evange. But he'd end up losing and Leah would be even worse off.

"Fine, just don't do anything! If you try anything, I'll kill you."

Evange ignored Mathiues, leaning against a tree by Leah. He wasn't about to let the apprentice come near the girl anytime during the night.

_Stupid girl should be able to tell him to get lost, at least. I have to do everything for her..._

Evange spent the rest of the night watching over Leah.

* * *

_...Oh, sorry... I can't follow you right now... I'm washing my hair._

Leah rolled over, slowly waking up.

_Take my advice, don't go into the tavern. Daylight robbery at those prices..._

The girl frowned and rubbed at her eyes, sitting up while still half asleep. She turned towards Mathiues, about to warn him about the dangers of the tavern, when she noticed someone that fully woke her up.

_Evange!_

Neither of the boys looked at her, they were too busy sitting across from each other, totally silent. Both were glaring at the other. Leah finally found her voice, still thinking it impossible that Evange was sitting so close.

"Uh... Evange?"

"You're awake, Leah! Would you like some..."

Mathiues trailed off as he noticed Leah was only looking at Evange. He felt a brief moment of panic. What if Evange was the friend Leah had been looking for?

Evange only spared a glance towards Leah, getting up in one movement.

"If we're going to Bowerstone, it'll be best if we get there early. So, hurry up."

_Is he not even going to explain why he's here? And did he just say **we're** going to Bowerstone? Since when was he included?_

Leah frowned at Evange, but decided not to voice her thoughts for the moment. She became aware of Mathiues looking at her and gave him a nervous smile.

"I guess we should hurry. Is the meat done?"

"Oh! Yes, I heated it up this morning so it'd be warm for you." The apprentice smiled warmly, grabbing at his chance to outdo Evange.

"Thanks."

Leah took the meat from Mathiues, accidently brushing her hand against his. This sent him into a daze, strangely, at the same time, an odd twitch in Evange's eye was set off. Leah just got up, eating the meat as she walked. Mathiues took the spot on Leah's right, while Evange walked to the girl's left.

_It's kind of creepy when they're both looking at me... _

Leah hurriedly ate her meat, a nervous laugh bubbling out of her as she noticed both boys looking at her, again. She quickly ducked her head, embarrassed by her behavior. Mathiues was kind enough to ignore Leah's nervousness. Evange, however, didn't mind teasing the girl.

"Laughing at yourself, again?"

Leah frowned, not wanting to rise to Evange's bait.

"I suppose you would. You aren't exactly serious looking. What with your messy hair."

Evange smirked as he ruffled Leah's hair further, earning him a glare from the girl. Mathiues saw how bothered Leah was and stepped in to 'save' her.

"Leave Leah alone! She's beautiful!"

Evange's playful mood disappeared and he sneered down at the apprentice.

"Well, look at the little boy proclaiming his love for the little girl."

Mathiues blushed, "I'm not... I was only saying Leah's beautiful! I don't know how you can't see it."

"Maybe because my eyes aren't clouded by your silly emotions."

"They're not silly! If we didn't have feelings, then... then we'd miss out on so much. And if you don't care about Leah, why are you here? And were you following us? Because you seemed to pop out of nowhere last night so conveniently."

_Was Evange following me? But, why would he?_

"You have no room to talk. You were following her, too. How else would you have shown up in Greatwood like that?"

"Evange... You were there?"

Evange looked at Leah, obviously not liking her question. He walked away, heading towards Bowerstone. But Leah was tired of not getting answers from the boy. She ran after Evange, trying to grab his sleeve to stop him and make him talk to her.

"Hey! I asked-"

Leah was stopped as Mathiues' hand appeared on her shoulder and held her back.

"Leah, I don't think he'll answer. Why don't we just ignore him? I'm sure he'll go away, eventually."

_He can't be serious about coming with us... But, if he's been following Leah longer than I have... _

Mathiues shuddered.

_What a creepy guy. And so rude, too!_

"He will?"

Leah looked down, thinking about this option. She had never thought about ignoring Evange. When she had last seen him, he was being a jerk to her, and she had run off.

_But... He gave me his guild seal. Which I lost... I owe him something for that, don't I? And... I wonder if he's been helping me all along..._

"Of course he will! And then, you won't have to worry about being made fun of. Because," Mathiues stepped in front of Leah and grasped her hands, a heavy blush covering his face, "I would never tease you. You're perfect to me."

"Uh... Thanks."

_He's... is he saying-?_

Evange had slipped back, gracefully shoving Mathiues away from Leah. He sent a glare at Leah, before walking forward, again. Leah looked over to see if the apprentice was alright, before following Evange at a distance.

Everyone was acting so strangely around her, Leah didn't know what to do. She was sure Mathiues had almost declared something important to her. But why had Evange interrupted? Did he just want to get to Bowerstone quickly, or was there something else that bothered him about Mathiues talking to Leah that way?

_I can't deal with this, now. I should be focusing on Kuyo not what these two think of me.

* * *

_

The three were off to Bowerstone, none of them in particularly high spirits. When they finally came into the town, most people didn't pay any attention to Leah or Mathiues. But Evange stuck out in his dark robes and distinct looks.

"Lady Grey's child, no doubt."

"What's he doing with such common fighters?"

"Getting some sick kicks out of them..."

Evange held his head high and ignored the villagers. These comments had been following him since he could get out of Bowerstone North. And he didn't care.

Mathiues seemed to bask in the attention, though he was modest about it. Leah, however, had suddenly become nervous, and was constantly tripping over her own feet. Luckily, the villagers were still far too curious about Evange himself than his followers.

Evange kept a look out for guards, ducking his head when he saw one. If Lady Grey found out-

"My, what a surprise."

A shudder passed through Evange as he passed the steps leading up to Bowerstone North. The feline voice drifting down to him. The boy couldn't help looking up, meeting the gaze of Lady Grey.

_Mother.

* * *

_

Another chapter pumped out courtesy of my beta's constant nagging about the fic. :D

Thanks again for the reviews. All of them pwn like nothing else.

...Mathiues got really annoying.


	13. She Has Me

Gladiator spoke in hushed tones with the Guild Master, while apprentices studied for the finals that were quickly approaching. The two were seated in the library, well away from the students.

"There have been several disturbances in the Darkwood and Greatwood area. Have you sent people to check those out?"

The Guild Master nodded, "Yes, they're, um, searching the area as we speak. Hopefully, uh, Lady Grey hasn't hushed up the events, yet."

"There haven't been any other clues."

"Have you, uh, tried speaking with the Lady?"

Gladiator sighed, rubbing his forehead, "No, and I don't plan to. No doubt she'd take this opportunity to kill Evange."

"But, um, isn't that what you're, uh, trying to do, too?"

_Is it?_

Gladiator was spared from responding to the Guild Master as a flustered girl burst into the room. Her cheap armor and weapons labeled her as a graduate from the Guild, but a rather new one. She spotted the Guild Master and quickly went to his side, whispering her news.

"Sirs, I had heard that you were looking for Evange while I was in Bowerstone. And while I was walking through the streets, I spotted Lady Grey addressing someone! I was shocked she'd actually talk to a commoner. After all, she is the Bowerstone Mayor. She doesn't need-"

"Please, carry on."

The girl's eyes widened as she heard Gladiator address her. She quickly launched back into what she had come here to say.

"Right! I came closer to see who Lady Grey could be talking to... And I saw her talking to a man. I instantly recognized him as Evange. The dark robes were a give away."

"He's in Bowerstone?"

The girl nodded, while the Guild Master got up, ready to reward the fighter for her information. Gladiator smiled at the girl in thanks before using his guild seal to head to Bowerstone South right away.

_For now... I need to get Evange away from Elvira. But... can I kill him?

* * *

_

Lady Grey smirked at her son, "Dear Evange, won't you come and sit with me for a moment? We haven't chatted in so long."

Evange kept his expression calm, well aware of the villagers watching. He climbed up the stairs to Bowerstone North, not looking back at Leah and Mathiues. The two were unsure of what to do but hesitantly followed Evange. The guards didn't seem to mind, only giving polite nods to them as Leah and Mathiues beheld the sophisticated northern part of Bowerstone. But already, Evange and Lady Grey were at the doors of Bowerstone Manor.

The guards wouldn't even let Mathiues and Leah into the gardens that stood in front of the Manor.

"I wonder what all this is about?"

Mathiues had taken a seat on a bench while Leah stood by, hands folded behind her back.

_Evange didn't seem very angry when Lady Grey talked to him... But, his emotions are always hard to read.

* * *

_

"Well, Mother, what do you want?"

Lady Grey raised her eyebrows at her son as she turned to him in the hallway.

"What any mother would want. A chance to speak to her child."

Evange glared at his mother as she spoke. He didn't trust her innocent act but kept silent. Obviously she wanted something, and he wasn't going to throw himself in her trap by saying something she could use against him.

"Now, Evange, my dear, won't you tell Mother something?"

Lady Grey waited for Evange to respond, frowning at his stony silence before pressing on.

"Won't you tell me why your father's silly fighters have been searching for you? Or perhaps you'd rather tell me how you have ended up in my domain, again, after I sent you away to Hook Coast?"

The boy did nothing but glare at the Lady. For her part, Lady Grey kept a jovial expression plastered on her face.

"Well, I suppose some things are not for a mother's ears. But, there is some thing else I am terribly curious about..." Lady Grey smirked at Evange, "What is my dear little boy doing following a whore?"

Evange spread his arms and let a confused expression settle on his face.

"Honestly, Mother, I have no idea where that boy came from. I'm ever so sorry to tarnish your name by letting myself be-"

"Don't be stupid, you wretch. What are you doing with that girl? Do you have any idea you're doing?"

Evange frowned, "I believe I do. And I don't think now is any time to try to give me any parental advice."

Lady Grey quickly closed the distance between them, grabbing Evange by the shoulders and shaking him. The boy was so startled by this sudden contact that he did nothing to pry himself away.

"Do you think you can just wander around, boy? Do you think your life is yours? Do have _any idea_ of what you're doing!"

Evange looked away, "Why do you feel the need to worry about how I portray myself, now? After the many years that you let me run around without so much as a second glance."

Lady Grey glared down at Evange, tightening her grip on his shoulders.

"Because _Lord Grey_," Lady Grey grinned as she felt Evange squirm in her arms, "will not be seen with some whore. It would terribly shame his mother. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose this Lord Grey might care. Then again, why should he care what his ancient witch of a mother feels?"

Lady Grey laughed, causing Evange to lean back, uncomfortable with her outburst.

"My dear little boy. You should be careful of how you speak to me. If a day comes when I no longer need you to carry on the Grey line..."

Lady Grey released Evange's shoulders, a dark smirk dancing on her face. She turned, ready to leave, but stopped as though she had just remembered something.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind if I have your _dear_ friends shipped off to Bargate. We wouldn't want them to get in your way, would we?" Lady Grey smirked as she started walking away, again. "Don't worry, I'll make sure they're kept in a nice cell. Perhaps even one without rats."

_Mother..._

Evange didn't show his rage, didn't want to show Lady Grey that she had won, for now. As he stood there and watched the Lady walk away he thought of something that could help Leah.

"Actually, Mother, I'm not done speaking with you."

"Oh, is that right? Perhaps you'd-"

Evange glared at his mother, before cracking a smile, "Please, let me finish. I suppose you're all ready to transport those _friends_ of mine away, correct?" The boy didn't wait for Lady Grey's answer, "I suggest you use your minions. I would greatly appreciate if you didn't risk sending them on boat. It'd be _very_ foolish."

Lady Grey's thin eyebrow rose, suspicion overcoming her face. She obviously didn't trust Evange's words and automatically thought to do the opposite of his advice.

"I do thank you for your advice. However, the boat to take them is already in port and I should not waste a moment sending them away."

"Fine, don't listen to my advice." Evange made sure his voice had the right amount of anger in it, turning his back to Lady Grey to hide his smirk.

"I'll be leaving, Mother. You're a fool if you think depriving me of two worthless beasts will hinder me."

"Not so fast, boy." Lady Grey cleared her voice delicately, "I do think it'd be best if you escorted the prisoners. I'm sure they'll be aching for your company."

Evange visibly tensed himself, whirling around with pure rage on his face, while inwardly grinning.

_She's fallen for it. The fool has lost her touch._

Lady Grey smiled, her dark eyes flashing with triumph, "Please enjoy your trip, dearest. We will see each other, again, I'm sure. And do not forget you still need to bestow me with a wonderful gift befitting a wonderful mother."

Evange glared at Lady Grey but succumbed to his fate as minions stirred in the shadows. He turned towards the entrance and walked out, immediately seeing Leah and Mathiues in the custody of a group of burlyguards. He walked past without glancing at the two, and the guards followed briskly.

_Mother, you truly have become dull. Or perhaps I have only become sharper.

* * *

_

The group, Evange walking freely while the other two were led by guards, was standing on the aged dock that jutted out towards Bargate Prison. The boat waiting beside the dock was a large, heavy boat. It was painted grey and blue, melting into it's oceanic surroundings amazingly well. A lone man leaned on the railing of the boat, lazily chewing on something, and was presumably the captain.

Lady Grey's guards ushered Mathiues and Leah onto the boat, keeping a respectful distance from Evange. They were sympathetic to the boy, if nothing else.

Mathiues crossed the boat's deck, admiring the fine details of the boat. Leah followed him, less sure of her footing and quickly finding a seat that would afford her a good view. Evange was the last to get on. His steps were quick and light as he took a spot farthest away from the railings of the boat.

_Surrounded by **water**. How did I come to be in this situation?_

The guards gave sharp nods to the captain, and stood on the dock, waiting to see the boat off.

The captain called out, and a full crew emerged from below decks. The crew was an average group of sailors, if one could ignore the fact that each one was a ghost.

The Grey family had long ago 'chained' these ghosts of sailors to the boat. The ghosts could never leave the boat, and if the ship sank, they would go with it to the very depths. If the ship fell apart, so would the ghosts.

Because the ship had once been a pleasure boat for the Grey mayors, the family had also made sure the ghosts could not harm the family's bloodline. Nor could the ghosts disobey the family.

The ghosts had lost their humanity years ago. Once they realized all that they once knew was gone, they had no reason to believe they would ever be set free. They would never be reunited with the ones they loved.

The captain yelled out orders and the ghosts obeyed silently. Leah watched them for a bit, fascinated by both the way the boat was worked and the ghosts, themselves. Mathiues talked to the captain, animatedly. The captain was eager to talk, he admitted he had to go years without talking to anyone but himself and the ghosts. He said those actions were basically one and the same, since the ghosts hadn't spoken a word since the captain had taken the job.

Evange, didn't spare the ghosts a glance, instead closing his eyes and trying to calm his nerves. The rocking of the boat unnerved him, along with the splashing waves below.

_If I'm going to get us to Knothole Glade... I have to get the crew to obey me._

Evange slowly opened his eyes, taking in the ghostly crew. He remembered them from his early years. He had sometimes gone with the guards to see prisoners off. And he had always caught glimpses of the crew.

The boy watched the shore disappear, waiting for the ship to be out of sight of the guards. He didn't need complications with Lady Grey sending minions after them.

Once the fog of the ocean melted away the harsh shoreline and dock, Evange turned to the ghosts and raised his voice.

"Listen to me," Evange smirked as the crew immediately turned towards him, "Obey and kneel before me!"

As one, the ghosts went to a knee before Evange as the captain roared at them to resume their duties. The boy grinned at the power at his fingertips. But the annoying yells of the captain were giving him a headache.

"Throw him," Evange motioned towards the captain, "Below deck. I don't want him to come out for any reason."

A few of the ghosts seized the captain, dragging him below deck despite the man's screams for help. Mathiues looked on in horror, bounding towards Evange.

"Wait! What are you doing? You don't know how to run this ship! You're going to sink us!"

Evange frowned at the apprentice, "But you can run this boat?"

"Of course! My father was-"

"_Wonderful_, you can be the new captain. As long as you don't disobey me."

A glare from Evange and Mathiues backed off, for the moment.

Leah half got up, wondering if Evange was doing something for or against her. So far it had seemed that he was helping her, but whose side was he really on?

"Evange, what exactly... are you doing?"

The boy spared Leah a glance, "We're going to Knothole Glade, aren't we? Guild seal would've been the fastest way... But this boat isn't slow. We can probably get there in a few days."

_Did he plan all this out, already?_

Leah nodded, thankful that someone had thought of a way to get to Kuyo faster. This crew wouldn't need to rest, so the boat could keep going day and night without stopping or slowing down. Plus, the boat itself was built to be faster than an ordinary trading ship.

"Do we have enough food to last those few days? For all of us, including the captain?"

Evange shot an annoyed look at Mathiues, refusing to respond. The apprentice threw his arms up in disbelief.

"How are we going to go that long without food? I only have enough meat and apples for a day!"

Evange sighed, "Deal with those problems yourself, _captain_."

The boy hurriedly took a seat, spreading his legs out across the deck, and closing his eyes. Mathiues scowled at Evange before giving out orders to the crew.

Leah had taken her previous seat, looking out at the sea. Her view was blocked by the thick fog, but she could imagine the deep woods of Witchwood. The constant rain that would trickle from far above, and the muddy yard around her old home.

_I wonder if they still live there. If they remember me. I hope they don't... I really hope they don't._

Evange slid one eye open, focusing on Leah, who was facing away from him. He frowned as he saw the girl slumped over, obviously saddened or worried about something.

_What am I doing helping her find some boy toy of hers? Why should I help her find this friend? Maybe I should just let the girl think that's what I'm doing. After all, why should she be in any hurry to be with some boy when she has me?_

Evange let the boat's motion rock him into a restless doze.

* * *

There you have it... Chapter 13.

You can look forward to some jealousy from Evange. :D

(Because my beta insists on it.)

...Captain Mat should wear a hat!

(Courtesy of my beta, again. -sweatdrop-)


	14. The Damsel in Distress

It had taken several long hours for Gladiator to get away from the crowds of people that emerged from all corners of Bowerstone to gawk at him. Though he had tried to push through them, they had only come closer. And the hero couldn't ignore the tiny faces of the children looking at him with pure childish delight.

Unfortunately, by the time Gladiator was able to break away, the ship carrying Evange had already faded into the seas. However, the hero was unaware and was now forced to see Lady Grey and talk with her.

"Ah, so my husband appears, again. I was wondering if you had died yet."

Gladiator stood by the door uncomfortably, as Lady Grey lounged on her vast bed.

"Elvira... You talked with Evange today."

"Yes, and he was quite a miserable wretch."

"Where is he?"

Lady Grey grinned wickedly, fanning herself with a hand.

"Why are you so eager to know about the boy, now?"

_I won't give her an excuse to kill him._

"I need to speak with him."

Disappointment briefly crossed the Lady's face before she sighed and sat up.

"I set him off to Bargate. Along with his little followers."

_Did she already imprison him? Why?_

"What crime have you accused him of?"

Lady Grey let out a short, barking laugh. "No, husband, I did not put the boy in prison. I only sent him there to escort some friends of his. I think he was _thrilled_ to go on a boat ride."

Gladiator narrowed his eyes as he looked at Lady Grey but turned around. He wasn't going to question her about Evange, anymore. He had more important things to take care of.

_Now that I know where Evange is heading, I can get there before him and wait. Though... I'm not looking forward to going back to Bargate._

A shudder ran through the hero as he recalled the memories of the prison, of his mother's and his own torture.

_A fitting place for me to confront Evange, I suppose.

* * *

_

Muted sunlight peered through the thick fog all around the ship. The sunlight cast an eerie glow on the ghostly crew, making them radiate a strange green light. Mathiues, however, had no problems dealing with the crew, despite their unearthly appearance. Leah had started pacing the boat, impatient to get to their destination. Evange... He was a bit unwell.

The boy had been sitting away from the railing for the duration of the first day, trying to sleep. After his earlier doze, though, sleep had evaded him.

_This water never... goes... away..._

Eventually, Evange got up, slowly making his way to the railing and leaning on it.

_I'm going to **kill** you._

The boy glared down at the water, a hearty scowl going with the glare. Leah noticed Evange had finally moved and went to go talk to him, seeing as how he was probably as bored as she was.

"Evange-"

Evange turned his head and sent his full glare at Leah. The girl winced, frowned at Evange, but walked away.

_What's with him? I didn't even say anything to him, yet._

Leah looked back at the boy, sending a weak glare at his back. She took a spot by Mathiues, sending a small nod at him as he shouted out orders to the crew. The apprentice quickly made room for Leah, while staying relatively close to her. He couldn't help but look at the girl with admiration.

_She's so beautiful. _

"So, Mathiues, when are we going to get to Knothole Glade?"

Mathiues started at the sound of his name coming from Leah's lips. He was instantly enchanted by her. Leah tilted her head before turning the other direction. She didn't know why, but Mathiues didn't talk to her very much. He'd always daze off into space, leaving the girl feeling foolish.

_He could at least make an excuse to not talk to me. It's kind of rude of him to just ignore me._

The apprentice eventually snapped out of it enough to realize Leah had asked him a question, and he jumped to answer it.

"Er, Knothole Glade? We should be there in about a week. As long as we have good sailing like today's! And don't worry, Leah, I'll make sure your sailing is good, no matter what. Captain Mathiues is here to protect and serve you."

Leah looked down at Mathiues as he bowed to her, a broad grin on his face. She smiled, looking away and noticing a very annoyed Evange switching his glare to Mathiues.

_Evange is really grumpy. What's his problem, anyway? Mathiues isn't even doing anything..._

Leah paused as she tossed a new thought around in her mind.

_If just talking to Mathiues makes Evange mad, then maybe being nicer to Mathiues will tick Evange off even more. He deserves it... Why did he glare at me?_

"Mathiues, you must be really confident about your captaining skills. Er," The girl tried to think of something to say, "If pirates attacked, you'd save me, right?"

She attempted to smile at Mathiues sweetly, aware that it probably came off as more than a bit crooked. But the apprentice took in the smile, and beamed one of his own.

"Of course! I'll do anything and everything for you!"

"And you're so nice, too! Some people just don't know how to be nice..."

"Oh, Leah, I could never be nasty to you!" Mathiues whipped Leah around to face him, "Believe me, Leah, I could never be anything less than what you want me to be."

Leah let out a nervous laugh, looking away from Mathiues' serious face. She didn't like pretending like this just to make Evange mad.

_Maybe I should stop this before anyone gets hurt..._

"Er, right. Well, I'm sure the crew needs you. I should probably leave you to-"

"Leah," the apprentice lifted Leah's face, his gloved hand trembling, "I don't ever want to be without you."

_Oh no... This is a bit too serious. I got to get away..._

Leah allowed herself a nervous smile, which Mathiues took to be a happy one and lowered his face to Leah's. The girl fervently hoped that Mathiues wasn't about to kiss her. She closed her eyes, pulling her head away as far as possible.

"Hey!"

Leah felt Mathiues step away from her and she cautiously opened her eyes.

_Evange. Of course. He's probably ready to kill someone._

"I think you'd better stick to your work, captain."

The boy was nearly spitting venom as he spoke, but that didn't stop Mathiues talking back. The apprentice had gained much confidence from what he believed to be Leah's acceptance of his feelings.

"Maybe you shouldn't interfere with our personal matters!"

"Your _personal_ matters?"

Evange sneered at Mathiues, his dark eyes seemingly growing darker yet.

"I don't think your little girl was even serious."

"You guys, stop! You can't fight on a boat. One of you might fall off..."

That immediately shut Evange up. His eyes flickered to the vast expanse of sea, an unnoticeable shudder running through him. Mathiues instantly paused when Leah spoke. The girl rubbed her arm, looking between the boys.

"Are you done?"

"Yes, Leah. I'm sorry for causing a scene in front of you. Will you accept my deepest apologies?"

Mathiues looked at the girl with remorseful eyes, bowing his head before retreating to order the crew, once more. He glanced back at Leah, shooting her a smile.

_We'll have more chances to express our love, Leah._

Evange had already begun to walk to his previous spot at the railing, but a sharp tug on his sleeve stopped him. He turned to see Leah glaring at him, but with the hint of a smile on her face. The boy's brows rose.

"Er... You really shouldn't have interrupted-"

"I'm _ever_ so sorry." Evange brushed Leah away, but her voice reached his ears once more.

"Still, thanks for, er..."

"Saving you, perhaps?"

The girl nodded her head, angrily.

_I always owe him something. And he's always so smug about everything._

Evange smirked, "I saved the damsel in distress... I believe a reward is in order."

"What?"

Leah nearly panicked at the tone in Evange's words. She suddenly didn't know which was worse... Mathiues coming after her for a kiss or Evange hounding her for something else.

"When I know what I want, I'll let you know." The boy winked at the girl before turning away.

_I'm stuck on a boat with two guys that want something from me that I can't give them. Why does this happen to me?_

Leah slumped down, afraid of what the coming week would bring.

* * *

Bargate was the same as it had always been. Red uniformed guards patrolling the hallways, moans and sobs of pain from the torture chamber, yelling as the guards entertained themselves with the prisoner races, which were held more often, now. Lady Grey hadn't bothered to change anything.

Gladiator stood at the great doors of the prison, looking out towards the sea. He had been standing at the shore for a few days, occasionally leaving to take care of some of his human needs.

_They should've been here by now. Something's not right. Did Elvira let Evange on that boat without any guards?_

The hero had been thinking over that possibility for the past few hours. He wanted to believe that Lady Grey had some purpose for sending Evange out on a boat instead of making him teleport. Gladiator wasn't aware of Evange's phobia of water, since he wasn't around when the phobia developed.

_Damn, where is he?_

Gladiator covered his face with one giant hand, feeling his age in the damp air of the prison.

_I'll wait inside for a bit... Wasn't there a prisoner I wanted to see before her execution? Maybe I can pass some time talking to her._

The hero disappeared into Bargate, turning his back to the dark seas.

* * *

The next few days on the boat had been less eventful. Leah had made sure she was never alone with either of the boys, sometimes even talking to the ghosts to look busy. Well, more like talking _at _the ghosts, since they never responded.

On what Mathiues predicted to be their last full day at sea, Leah was unable to find anything to busy herself with. All her excuses were used up, and Mathiues was already walking over to talk to her. Leah didn't want to rely on Evange's help, she'd only end up with owing him something else.

"Leah, we're almost to Knothole Glade, and it's lovely weather. I expect we'll be getting into some rougher waters once we near the island. The rain there might throw us a bit off, but no worries!"

Leah nodded, not wanting to give Mathiues any strange ideas.

_Too bad he already thinks I like him. I wish I hadn't been so nice._

There was a few moments of silence, Leah looking to the side while Mathiues twisted the fabric of his top. He opened his mouth several times, wanting to voice something that had worried him for a long time, now.

_If I don't ask her... I'll make a fool of myself! I have to ask._

"Leah... The friend you're trying to save... What-" Mathiues closed his mouth, revising his question, "Can I ask h-how close you are to him?"

Not far from where the two were talking, Evange was sitting against the railing. He slid open one eye to glance at Leah and to make sure Mathiues wasn't doing anything 'romantic', again.

"How close? Very. Kuyo, my friend, has always been there."

Mathiues' heart fell, "So, you love him?"

"How can I not?"

Evange frowned a bit as Leah confirmed what he had already guessed.

_I'm afraid your dear friend won't be saved anytime soon by you. _

"Kuyo has looked after me since I was born. My dearest friend."

The two boys were in shock, relief written all over Mathiues' face and secretly flooding Evange.

"So, he's like a-a brother to you?"

"Yea, I guess."

The apprentice beamed at Leah, "Then we have to make sure we save him! We'll let nothing stand in our way!"

Leah smiled back, hoping Mathiues wouldn't read into the smile.

_Like a brother... That's good unless she's into incest..._

Evange peeked over at Leah again, dismissing the thought.

_Fine, then. I'll help. It's something to do, in any case. Plus, I wouldn't want that dirty apprentice getting too close._

The ship slid through the waters, observed by unseen eyes.

* * *

It was early morning, the waters still ebony, and twice as rough. Mathiues had already woken, shouting orders to the crew, anxious that nothing should happen this close to the island. Leah had just barely woken up from her restless sleep, coming to slump over on the railing. She looked into the darkness that surrounded them, her spirits not as light as they should've been.

_Am I even really getting closer to Kuyo? Or is this another dead end that just leads to more problems?_

There was a sigh and a light thump as Evange came to sit against the railing next to the girl.

"What are you so depressed about?"

Leah frowned, "I'm fine."

"And that's why you're over here moping..."

Silence on Leah's part. The boy rolled his neck, annoyed by the girl's response. And that he had been woken up so early by Mathiues' shouting.

_Damn apprentice. He practically screamed in my ear._

"Maybe you're just grumpy from your lack of sleep."

"I slept fine."

"Even with those dreams of yours?"

Leah tensed, gaping down at Evange. She couldn't see his face from her angle, but something else about the boy caught her eye.

A fading bruise, half hidden among Evange's hair.

_That bruise... That's the spot where I hit him in my... dream..._

Horror made Leah back away from Evange, her foot catching on the railing and almost sending her to the deck.

The boy looked at her, frowning, "Watch it. No one's go-"

Leah smacked Evange as hard as she could, her hand stinging, and glared at him. Evange looked up in total bewilderment, one side of his pale face turning an angry red. Mathiues had glanced at them, and was marching over, ready to protect Leah against the devilish Evange.

"What's your problem?"

"_My_ problem!"

_Evange says that to me after what he did! And he just let me think it was a dream! He's been following me the whole time!_

The girl was about to send Evange overboard, but Mathiues came up and stepped in front of her, facing Evange.

"What have you done to upset Leah so much!"

"I didn't do-"

Leah had pushed around Mathiues, hitting Evange again, glaring down at him. Instantly, the boy was standing, too, glaring back at Leah. Mathiues got ready to interfere in case Evange started being violent.

"What is _wrong_ with you?"

Evange had to say the words slowly, measuring them, to keep his anger down.

"Just a delayed reaction from my dream."

The boy realized what Leah was saying and relaxed. A small smile replaced the former sneer.

"Oh yes, a pleasant dream, wasn't it? Maybe you'll be lucky enough to have another."

The boy winked, stepping backwards as Leah tried to hit him, once again. Mathiues stepped beside Leah, wanting to calm her down, as Evange calmly walked away, throwing smirks over his shoulder.

"You know you liked it..."

A sound of pure rage burst from Leah, Mathiues was confused by the situation but dubbing it Evange's fault.

_I'll find out what he did later... Right now, I've got to get us to land._

Leah was left to vent her frustration by herself. She would've gone after Evange, but some ghosts had already started to mill around her. They were supposed to protect Evange, and had seen Leah hit their master. They were going to be sure to keep her away from Evange, now.

_Evange! I'm going to kill you!

* * *

_

Finally done! Finally! Finally!

It feels like I've been writing this chapter for months. T-T

But it's finally done!

Hopefully, I can get to the meat of plot, now. This story will probably be at least 20 chapters long. I hope to finish it off, soon. :)

Thanks to the helpful reviews. I do try to improve my writing. And seeing what you think helps me do that.

If you're going to say the story isn't good, an explanation would be nice. :D

...Leah desperately wants to pummel Evange.


	15. Father's Help

Deep in the bowels of Bargate, Gladiator peered into cells, looking for the prisoner he had vowed to see. So far, he hadn't found the woman, and the guards were reluctant to say anything without direct permission from the Warden.

_She's not in the torture chamber, nor any of the regular cells. So where is this prisoner?_

The hero paused as he heard laughter burst from the around the corner, the deep voice unmistakably the Warden's. A new one, for Gladiator had disposed of the Warden from his own prison days.

"Ah, you're serious? I would never have guessed..."

Gladiator didn't hear a response, though the Warden must have.

"That's harsh, but not much more than our _activities_ here." Another booming laugh and the Warden walked into Gladiator's view, a smaller individual at his side. The Warden stopped to address the hero.

"G'day to you, sir. Is there something you're needing?"

"I'm looking for a certain prisoner. A woman that was found in here recently."

"You must mean me."

The person who had been walking with the Warden stepped forward, clad in dirty villager clothes, hair cut short. She was barely recognizable as a woman, her face not very feminine and dirty at the moment.

"Are you the one who-"

"-Was found here and scheduled for a beheading next week?"

Gladiator hid how much the girl had unsettled him and gave her a weary smile.

"Would you allow me to speak to you privately?"

"Warden, would you excuse us?" The girl stepped toward Gladiator, the Warden nodding and watching her leave.

"Please, follow me, sir."

The hero quickly followed the prisoner, one of his great strides equaling two of hers. The girl led Gladiator to a secluded spot, taking a seat on a box full of clucking chickens.

"What would you like to hear, sir?"

"You know there's something different about Evange?"

"Everyone is 'different'. Evange is no more different than the rest."

"You know about... about," _She'll be dead soon, anyways. There's no harm in telling her._ "What the seeress saw in Evange's future?"

The girl took her time responding, just staring at Gladiator with flat eyes.

"I know what the seeress thought she foresaw, yes."

Gladiator sighed heavily, "I would've liked to save you from this place. But... he's my son. I can't let others shun him because of this prophecy."

"Yet, you're willing to kill him for the people that would shun him." The girl looked away, "Do not worry about 'saving' me. I am comfortable here. There is no one to judge me and no one to tell me I have done wrong. And death doesn't scare me. It's just the beginning of something new." She smiled.

"I... I don't want to let him destroy all that I've worked for. My whole life has been used to protect and save Albion. And Evange will ruin all that."

"Do not be so ready to believe in what others think that they have seen. Images, visions, can be twisted in a person's mind. But that is not what you should worry about, now."

Gladiator withheld his frustration. Would it be so hard for someone to give him a direct answer about all this?

"And what should I be worrying about, then?"

"There is a group of people that truly wishes to destroy Albion. They desire to bring forth the Old Kingdom, once more. Only those with Old Kingdom blood will be able to survive the ritual these people plan. They aren't aware of that, and are not of Old Kingdom blood lines. Therefore, they are dooming themselves by carrying out this ritual."

"A ritual? How- I mean, what exactly-"

"A ritual that involves countless sacrifices, dozens of will users scattered across Albion, and a lunar eclipse. Albion will perish if the ritual is carried out."

Gladiator was having trouble taking all this in, his head buzzing painfully with all the unwelcome news.

"I have to stop this. But..." Gladiator looked at the girl worriedly, "I don't know how to do that."

"Already, three companions go to seek revenge on the group. But they are not going fast enough. You should go to them and hurry them along, help them with your experience. They will need it."

"Where are these people?"

"Knothole Glade. I suggest you hurry if you hope to succeed. There are only seven nights left before the next lunar eclipse."

Gladiator turned, ready to hurry on his way before looking back at the prisoner.

"How do you know all this? Are you a seeress?"

"You may call me that, if you wish. However, my 'visions' come when I desire them to. I can see what is to be, what could be, what is, and what was. I am the master recorder of fate."

_The master recorder of fate? There's no time to question her, now._

"Before I leave, may I ask your name or title?"

The prisoner smiled, "My name is Jarlin. But, I'm sure you won't remember it. The next time we meet, I will be living under a new name."

The hero nodded, "I'm Gladiator. I hope we meet again, thank you for your information."

"One last thing you should know, hero... One of the three companions is the boy you wish wasn't your son."

_Evange!-?_

Gladiator opened his mouth to demand an explanation to how Evange could possibly be able to be the one to both save and destroy Albion but was interrupted by the Warden.

"Excuse me, sir. 'm afraid it's the Miss' turn to exercise. Shall we go?"

Jarlin nodded to Gladiator in goodbye and followed the Warden, the two chattering about various things the prisoner said she'd seen. Gladiator clenched his fists, torn on his feelings about the current matter.

_I can't let personal feelings get in the way, now. To save Albion, I have to help those three. So I'll focus on just doing that for now._

The hero let his guild seal whisk him away to Knothole Glade.

_Evange... I don't want to kill you. Please prove your prophecy wrong.

* * *

_

'The Masters Three', the leaders of the Old Kingdom restoration effort, sat in tense silence. Though the three had been together, worked together, for some time, a matter had come up that threatened to split them.

They had stationed ships in the waters off Knothole Glade and a report had come back from one of the ships that had unsettled them. A ship had spotted the Grey ship, well away from Bargate waters where it was supposed to be. The Old Kingdom ship had followed, watching the deck of the other ship with keen eyes and had confirmed that Lady Grey was not on the ship, but that her son was.

_Damn the Grey line! That filthy woman swore that she would keep our affairs hushed from unworthy ears. Yet, now we find that her bloody son is in our waters! Of course he must be her spy, but if we exterminate him, she'll surely expose us and it will be that much harder to complete our goal. Damn it all!_

The man of the group held his face in his hands, sure that they were stuck. He had once been a guard, before Evange was introduced to society. And his broad shoulders were obvious evidence of his past profession.

"We can't do anything about this." One of the women, Silent Breeze, said this with a sigh, her headache nearly driving her insane.

"We have to! That Grey woman could ruin all our plans." The man was quick to answer back, his eyes angry but panicked.

The third member of the group, another woman, sat back, observing her companions with flat eyes.

_Of course this could prove to be a problem... But they forget one thing. They've been away from the world for far too long._

"Friends, if I may speak?"

The other two shut their mouths, waiting.

"Thank you..." The woman folded her hands, "What makes you so sure that the boy is there on his mother's orders?"

The other two were shocked for a moment, that possibility had not crossed their minds and they needed time to process it.

"Then," The man spoke up, "if the boy's not following his mother's orders... Then he's not only _not _a threat, we can use him against Grey!"

The woman, Rhynia, smiled wearily.

_Poor fool. Don't you think if his mother cared for him, she would keep him closer and away from our waters? _

"I'll get a message out to check out the boy." Silent Breeze stood, "If all has been concluded...?"

The man hesitated to speak, knowing that Rhynia was wiser than him.

"Yes, that's all, friend." Rhynia smiled warmly, which sent Silent Breeze out the door, her headache dissipating.

"Henry, would you stay for a moment longer?" Rhynia spoke to the man as he got up, her smile slipping a bit.

"Yes, of course."

"We are so close to our goal, yet, I feel unease. I have been thinking deeply on the seeress' words."

"She's an old bat, surely. She was panicked when she gave us that warning, like she was scared that we wouldn't think about what she said."

Rhynia smiled, "Now, Henry..."

_The seeress was panicked because of something else. Her mind wasn't focused on what she was saying, alone. If she's keeping something to herself, we'll need to ease that information from her._

Henry rose, "I need to speak with some will users, Rhynia. I'll leave you to your own duties if that's all you wanted..."

"Yes, I was just rambling, forgive me, friend." Rhynia stood, walking out a door, keeping her face averted.

_Maybe I'm just the one going insane, here? How can it be that others don't see what is so clear to me?_

Rhynia retreated to her room, firmly locking the door. The room was plain, only a bed, desk and chair, all white, in it. Where others would put trophies or paintings, Rhynia left the walls blank.

While others dwelled in their memories and held them on their sleeves, Rhynia hid hers. Her memories for her only, she didn't need others feeling anything for her based on her past.

The woman sighed, sinking onto her chair, drawing her knees up.

_It's been so long, my dears... How are you? I hope you're resting in peace. Forgive me for being so selfish in doing this... Forgive me._

Tears welled up in Rhynia's green eyes, but she pushed them away with violent force.

_For our Old Kingdom, I need to be strong. These tears can be shed, later... _

She stood, her face free of any grief, and walked the halls, her mind focused only on what had to be done. Rhynia didn't like dwelling in her memories, hated them at times. She wished her life had been better, wished Avo was real and could save her. Could protect her loved ones... But Albion was cruel.

_The Old Kingdom will not be cruel. Mothers and wives won't have to cry, anymore..._ _And neither will I.

* * *

_

Evange hid his sigh of relief as he stepped foot on land. Leisurely, he stretched, glad to finally be able to walk about confidently. Mathiues glanced around, noting how empty this stretch of the beach was.

_It was about time we got off that damn ship._

"So, Leah, should we begin by asking people?"

"...Yea, the guards would probably be our best bet. Though the villagers might be more willing to part with information."

"No matter who we ask, they're going to want some sort of bribe. Or I could frighten them into telling."

Evange smirked, rolling his shoulders. Leah just frowned, turning towards the village, Mathiues chose to glare at Evange, hurrying away after Leah. With a roll of his eyes, Evange followed suit.

_What bores._

The three walked, not knowing that just ahead Gladiator waited. He had spotted the ship coming in but had predicted Evange would come this way and had settled in for a wait.

The hero was nervous, desperately trying not to wring his hands or scratch at his arm. Those were old nervous habits he thought he had let die long ago. Gladiator subtly took deep breathes to focus and calm down.

_Evange... I'll help you. If you turn out as horribly as I've believed all these years, then I'll kill you. If you turn out differently... then I'll grovel to you forgiveness. _

"Shouldn't we have hit Knothole Glade by now? Did you take the wrong way, girl?"

Leah clenched her fists, going faster to try and escape Evange's comments. She didn't want to deal with him now or ever again after finding out the truth behind her 'dream'.

"If you'd admit you took the wrong way we could turn around and get there before dusk."

More silence.

"Of course you're too stubborn to listen to reason."

_Shut up! I know where I'm going!_

"If you don't turn around, perhaps I can arrange another dream for you."

Leah nearly growled, not turning around to see the smug smirk that Evange sported, and started to run the rest of the way. Mathiues looked between the two with worry, quickening his pace to keep up with the girl.

_I'll show you, Evange, you creep!_

Smoke wafting through the air made Leah turn, now sure she had gone the right way, and run backwards as she screamed back at Evange.

"I know where I'm going! So just shut-"

Evange froze in shock as Leah rammed into a hulking figure. The girl tried to turn to see what she had ran into but tripped on her feet. As Leah fell, two large hands gripped her shoulders and set her upright. The girl stared up, recalling the man.

"Oh, er, excuse me, sir Gladiator!"

_Father?-! What is he doing here?_

Gladiator smiled down at Leah nervously before glancing up, finally taking in the sight of his son, his heart faltering for a moment.

"Evange..."

The man stepped towards Evange who involuntarily jerked backwards. Gladiator halted in his steps.

"I want to help you from now on."

_What did he say?-!

* * *

_And here you finally go. x.x

...Gladiator better be happy that he got a bigger role.


	16. A Lover's Kiss

"Evange?"

The boy snapped back into reality, realizing that he had to give Gladiator some sort of response.

"You want to help me? Only _now_? Did you get bored of sitting around and doing nothing?"

To the side of the father and son, Mathiues leaned towards Leah, speaking in a low voice.

"He really should show more respect to Gladiator! After all, Gladiator is Albion's hero!"

The girl shrugged neutrally.

_Gladiator might've saved Albion, but he must've done something bad at one time to make Evange hate him so much... Still, it'd be nice to have a real hero help me save Kuyo. _

Gladiator came towards Evange, holding his arms in a gesture of peace. He looked older, the lines of his face seemingly deeper. Perhaps it was because he dreaded having to see whether Evange, his only child, would betray Albion or not.

"Evange, please. You must let me do this."

Evange narrowed his eyes, a sudden realization coming to him, "You're doing this for you, not me..." The boy hurried on before Gladiator could speak, "Which is fine with me. I don't suddenly need my dear Father actually _caring_ about me."

With a sneer, Evange turned away, leaving the other three to watch him walk off. Gladiator stifled his sigh of relief, glad that Evange had accepted his help. It didn't make much difference about _why _the boy was letting his father help, to Gladiator, at least.

_Think what you will, boy. It doesn't matter, yet._

"Excuse me, Gladiator, but I'm Mathiues. And an apprentice at the Guild!" He grinned, "It's an honor to be traveling with you!"

"Oh, same to you..."

The hero gave Mathiues a nod before heading after his son. Mathiues frowned a bit at being brushed off so easily, but began to follow Gladiator. He paused as he looked back for the fourth member of the group. The girl had been looking into the trees since Evange had walked off, brooding on something.

_Evange and Gladiator obviously aren't on good terms with one another... But why? What could've happened to make them this way? Surely a father couldn't hate his child, right? A parent wouldn't abandon their child if they loved that child._

"Leah?"

Mathiues had interrupted her train of thought, and Leah wasn't eager to resume that line of thought, anyways.

"Oh, right, sorry!"

* * *

The Masters Three had trained will users under their control. And these will users could summon many, many forms of creatures. Some of these creatures were capable of capturing full-grown dragons when in a group. And the Masters Three required dragons.

However, dragons were beyond rare. They were elusive and few. The fact that the will users had managed to even find any was beyond comprehension.

But they had, and were able to capture two full grown dragons, along with a juvenile one. And it had been almost too easy when one had un unlimited amount of summoned creatures at one's disposal.

Kuyo was still too young to be full grown, and an easy target. Assassins had been the ones to take Kuyo down, sneaking upon him in his sleep to capture him. Their blades had been covered with poison designed to bring about a heavy sleep.

Now, Kuyo was chained down and behind a barrier, finally able to think and see clearly.

Cautiously, Kuyo lifted his head, trying to see his surroundings better.

"_So, the young one awakens."_

The deep voice startled Kuyo, making him try to dig his long claws into the stone floor. Laughter was the answer to the screeching protests of the hard floor.

"_The chains are weak, break them and take a look at where you are."_

Kuyo obediently arched his back, hissing as he felt one of his spines topple and slap against his scales. He sank down for a moment, almost unable to will himself to try again, before once more arching his back. The chains were truly weak and broke almost immediately. Kuyo sucked in large breaths, the air hissing past his teeth.

"_They hurt you badly, did they?"_

There was almost a snicker in the words, causing Kuyo to look around for the source of the voice. His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw another dragon across the high vaulted room. The dragon was a blend of burnt oranges and deep reds, and it was unmistakably female to Kuyo.

"_Are you too young to speak?"_

Again, the snicker, Kuyo frowned in annoyance.

"_I... I can speak. I'm not so young."_

The female dragon yawned widely, showing off her impressive set of black and red teeth. Each tooth longer than a man's forearm.

"_You can speak, but you're still young. You've lived nowhere near as long as I, and you never will, now."_

Kuyo's stomach tightened, dreading how sure the voice sounded.

"_If it's any consolation_, _I'll be dead alongside you, as well as the oldie."_

The female nodded her head towards a massive heap of silver planted in the midst of the room, nearly reaching to the high ceiling. Kuyo peered at it for a moment before seeing the silver for what it truly was.

_He's even larger than her!_

The heap was the other dragon, laid out on his side. His scales shown silver in the meager light and more than a few were scattered around him, old and cracked.

"_He's been lying there ever since they brought me in. Hasn't moved or said a single word to me."_

"_Is he dead?"_

The female snorted, _"Have you never learned to smell? Of course he isn't dead, his body hasn't begun to rot yet, has it?"_

Kuyo lowered his face in embarrassment, the female only snorted again, her tail sliding across the floor impatiently.

"_You'll have to start speaking, now. I've been in this place for too long without any civilized company. Your name?"_

"_My name? Kuyo. And yours?"_

Kuyo had added a slight imperious tone to his voice, hoping to sound less childish. But it only made him seem more so, the female laughing to herself.

"_Syl. It seems we three now share the same fate."_

Syl went silent, her head raising angrily, Kuyo lifted his own head, wondering what the female had sensed. Rough human voices echoed into the room after a time, Syl snorted through her nose as two white clad men entered the room.

"Is the silver one still alive?"

One of the men jerked a thumb at the lying giant.

"He hasn't moved in days, not really sure if he is. It'd be near impossible to secure another dragon in less than a week. And we'll definitely need one for the ritual. I'll check on him."

One of the men walked through the barrier surrounding the silver dragon, walking to the exposed belly and tapping it with one hand. The man let out a gurgled scream as a wide claw, bigger than the man himself, ripped through his midriff. The silver dragon craned his neck so that he could snap up the two halves of the man, gulping them down his great throat.

The other man frowned, "Guess it's alive, then. Just a few more days before we can be rid of you beasts." He started walking away, "The lunar eclipse is near, luckily."

Once the man had left, Syl turned her head to the silver dragon, but before she could speak a thunderous voice filled the room.

"_I am Uuls. And don't speak before I finish!"_

Syl glared at Uuls, but held her tongue. Kuyo was overcome by the voice that seemed to vibrate the floor beneath his feet.

"_I will tell you what we must do. The death of us will only bring about an era even worse for dragons. A revival of the humans' Old Kingdom will wipe us out, if it works. That is why we mustn't die. Do you understand?"_

Syl snorted a positive, Kuyo nodding, and Uuls went on, his voice rasping now.

"_They will soon take us to our death. First, we'll be poisoned, of course. Kuyo," _Kuyo straightened, surprised the elder had bothered to actually talk to him. _"You must pretend to be sickly for the next few days. Do not move or eat unless I tell you to. They will give you less poison and when our death day comes, you will escape. You will ruin their ritual by living."_

"_What!-? What about us? Am I to die by a human's hands!-?"_

Syl angrily snorted, stomping her feet as she glared at Uuls. The old dragon didn't look at her.

"_As long as the ritual is broken, and that young one lives, everything is fine. We must accept our fate. We have no other choice."_

"_Kuyo could save us! Kill the humans and-"_

Uuls roared at Syl, baring his teeth, smoke wafting from his nose and mouth.

"_You think they would not kill him if he tried!-? What would be the point of him being free if he only dies in vain? No! Kuyo, you must escape without thought about us. You must live!"_

With that, Uuls turned his head away. Syl angrily scraped her claws on the floor before turning her back to both the other dragons, while Kuyo laid down. He'd follow Uuls' instructions as long as possible.

_But how can I just leave them to die?

* * *

_

Mathiues and Leah had briefly gone into Knothole Glade to gather both supplies and information. They had learned that the mysterious ships always sailed in from the north, almost as if they were coming from the Hook Coast island.

Gladiator had frowned upon hearing the information, having never seen any of these ships by Hook Coast. The group had looked at a map that Gladiator had, old and torn, and spotted a smaller island just south of Hook Coast and north of Knothole Glade. That would be their destination.

Once that was decided, Leah had wanted to rush there, but Gladiator had overruled her. He knew some preparations would have to be made. However, he also wanted to hurry, knowing they only had a limited amount of time.

Currently, the group was camped just offshore from the ship that had brought them to Knothole Glade in the first place. A fire crackled loudly, meat nestled beside it along with the small group.

Gladiator was silent, brooding as he watched the other three talking and arguing over some trifle or other.

_Evange seems almost normal, I suppose. Can it really be possible that he'll destroy Albion? Maybe... maybe I should speak with him about everything. Has it been fair to keep him in the dark for so long?_

"Fish are much healthier than red meat, you know." Mathiues happily supplied his useless information, making Evange roll his eyes. Leah nodded in agreement before supplying her comment.

"Yea, I guess they are. But red meat is so much easier to find."

Evange had grown quiet for the time being, occasionally voicing some snide comment or his opinion. He adored the comfortable warmth of the fire as well as his choice view of Leah, even if she was sitting a bit too close to Mathiues.

"Boy," Gladiator hesitated to place a hand on Evange, "would you come with me?"

Mathiues paused for a moment before continuing to talk to Leah about the healthiness of various foods. Evange looked up to Gladiator, raising his eyebrows for a moment.

"If you want to fight me, might as well do it here."

Evange rose, ready to fight his father, surprised when Gladiator shook his head.

"I only need to talk, Evange."

The boy frowned, sending a warning glare back at Mathiues before following Gladiator away. The hero led Evange to the beach, just out of reach of the lapping waves, not conscious of the fact that Evange hated the water.

"Evange... there is something I've kept from you."

"It wouldn't be the first time you have."

The boy was terribly disinterested in what Gladiator had to say, looking away from the ocean. Gladiator ran a hand through his thinning hair, not knowing whether to bother and try to soften what he had to say or not.

"When you were born, I wanted to know if you would have to suffer through the pain I did. I wanted to keep you safe from that kind of life."

"Oh, you actually cared for me at one point? I'm shocked, Father!"

Evange's voice was bitter through his mockery. Gladiator ignored the comment and continued on.

"I consulted a seeress, and she saw horrible things in your future. She foresaw you destroying Albion, Evange." Gladiator waited for a response but continued after realizing Evange refused to respond, "I didn't want to kill you, you were my newborn son. So, I sat and hoped that you would never fulfill your prophecy."

"And this prophecy is also the reasoning behind Mother's hatred for me?"

"...No. Elvira really knows nothing about it. I only told her that the seeress saw something terrible in your future."

_Mother hates me for no reason, then. At least Father only began to hate me **after **he found out about the prophecy. I have such **lovely** parents._

"Why are you telling me all this, now?"

"Because you can help save Albion, now! Do you understand? You can beat your prophecy."

"How am I supposed to save Albion? Last I checked, Albion was doing quite well."

"There's some group of people who are trying to bring the Old Kingdom back. Leah's friend must be involved in it somehow, because wherever he is, that's where the Old Kingdom fanatics are."

Evange raised an eyebrow, "How do you know all this to be true?"

"Never mind that. You must give me your word, now, that you'll save Albion instead of destroying it."

"If I don't?"

"I'll kill you here and now."

Evange smirked, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to ask later. I'm not really sure if Albion's worth saving, yet."

Gladiator looked at Evange's retreating back with hopelessness.

_How can I possibly make him see Albion is worth it?

* * *

_

While Gladiator and Evange had talked, Mathiues and Leah had kept on talking. But Mathiues was no fool, he knew his great luck at being left alone with Leah. He wouldn't lose this chance to get closer to the girl.

A few minutes after their conversation had dwindled down, replaced by silence, Leah glanced around and noticed two members of their party missing.

"I wonder where-"

"Leah, you look so beautiful in the firelight."

Leah stiffened, shrugging at Mathiues nervously before looking away.

"Really, Leah, you're the most stunning girl I've ever met. And not just your looks, either." The apprentice paused, bringing a hand to Leah's shoulder, "Leah, I care so much about you."

_Oh Avo, what do I say to him!-? I don't want to hurt him, but I can't just sit here. Maybe Gladiator and Evange will come back to save me._

"Er, Mathiues, I don't really think..."

The girl fidgeted, trying to find words that wouldn't hurt Mathiues.

"Don't worry, they won't be back for a bit. We have all the privacy we need right now."

"Oh, er, well... I think I can hear someone coming back!"

Leah looked to the thin line of trees obscuring the beach, despair eating at her as no one came into the light. A slight breeze blew through the foliage, whipping the girl's hair into her face. She turned back toward Mathiues to wipe the hair from her face and that was all the apprentice needed.

Gently, Mathiues took hold of Leah's face, brushing her hair and hands away. The girl only had a moment to think before Mathiues was pressing his lips to hers. Then, the girl's thoughts were practically nonexistent.

Just as Mathiues pulled away from Leah, a shy smile on his face, a third presence made himself known.

"What exactly made you think that would be a wise move?"

Evange, lightening coursing over his hands, stood opposite the fire.

* * *

Goodness, Mathiues just smacked Leah on the lips. :o

I've got a lot of the next chapter done, and know pretty much what's going to happen. You've got dance music to thank (or blame) for my recent inspiration. :P

...Evange is going to kill Mathiues. :D


	17. A Gift of Petals

Mathiues released Leah's face, turning towards Evange almost triumphantly. Leah edged away from the apprentice, sending him a fierce glare that he didn't catch.

_I barely know him and he **kisses **me?-! Why does everyone think I want all this romance? _

"You want to explain yourself, now?"

Mathiues smiled, "You don't _really _need an explanation, do you? It's fairly obvious, isn't it?"

Evange narrowed his eyes, glancing at Leah.

_The girl couldn't like him. But little Mathiues is dead, no matter what she thinks. He won't get away with this._

"You refuse me an explanation? I'll delight you with a tidbit about that kiss you just enjoyed, then" Evange smiled sweetly, "That wasn't Leah's first kiss. _I _should know."

Mathiues glowered at Evange, "_You stole_ her first kiss?-!"

The boy smiled in response, causing Mathiues' glare to deepen.

"I won't let you get away with doing that."

"I'm afraid that you'll be dead before you can do anything to me."

"Evange, you can't kill him!"

Leah had half risen, looking between the two boys nervously. She knew the message she'd be sending by protecting Mathiues, but she couldn't let him just be killed.

Evange raised an eyebrow, his smile turning into a slight frown, "_Why _can't I kill him? He's defenseless and stupid. I think I'm fully capable of killing him."

"What was that, boy?"

Gladiator stepped out from behind Evange, one hand raised to grab the hilt of his sword.

"Stay out of my way, Father. This is none of your business."

Gladiator's face hardened and he stepped in front of Evange, "I won't let you kill anyone."

"You're willing to kill me, then?" Evange smirked, sure of his father's answer.

_No... I can't kill him. He has a chance of being good. Maybe the sacrifice of one boy will bring everything full circle. But how can I stand by and let one of them be slaughtered?_

The hero deflated but didn't move out of the way. Evange eased past the big man, locking eyes with Mathiues. The apprentice stood, his sword unsheathed with it's tip pointed at his opponent. As for Evange, lightening licked at the air around his hands.

Leah clenched her hands and stepped between the boys, seeing that Gladiator wasn't moving to stop either. She gulped and tried to think of something to say, anything that would stop the fight.

_One of them will be dead. And it'll be... well, it'll be **their** faults, but I'll still feel guilty. But what will stop them?... They're both so stupid. I don't like **either** of them! Maybe I should just say that?_

"Leah," Mathiues sent a soft smile at Leah without taking his eyes away from Evange's, "I can handle myself. I don't want you to think you have to protect me. I'll take care of this girly boy quickly, okay?"

"Get out of the way, girl!"

_They'll never stop fighting if I just tell them I don't like either! They're fighting right now and I never said I liked either of them! They're never going to stop unless... Unless I say I do like one of them._

Leah cringed, the boys mistaking the expression coming about because of Evange's harsh command. Mathiues took a step towards Evange, glaring whole heartedly at the other boy.

In turn, Evange grinned wildly and swung his arm towards Mathiues in an arc. His lightning passing through the air dangerously close to Leah. Mathiues saw this, grabbed Leah and pushed her out of the way. Evange immediately took the opportunity to throw a fireball at the apprentice, switching between his spells with ease.

Mathiues cried out, grabbing at his arm and sinking to the ground for a moment, his sword falling away from him. Gladiator looked to the boys with worry and indecision, not wanting to intervene unless it was absolutely necessary. Evange flicked his tongue out to wet his lips, his familiar lightning lacing the air around his hands again.

"If being a 'girly boy' keeps the women coming, then fine. At least I'm not a pathetic piece of shit like you."

The boy aimed a hard kick at Mathiues' gut, the apprentice, however, grabbed Evange's leg and pulled the boy down to the ground. Mathiues angrily pulled himself over Evange, bashing his head into Evange's without mercy.

"At least I'm not a monster!"

The two continued struggling on the ground, Mathiues landing a hard punch to his opponent's face, causing Evange to grab the apprentice by his hair and run lightning into it, effectively dislodging Mathiues. Evange shot to his feet, his nose and lips bleeding from the punch, ready to hit Mathiues with all his power.

_I have to say something quick, they're going to kill each other! But who do I say I like? Mathiues is probably the safer choice... but Evange won't be rejected. He'll probably go crazy like he did on that quest. However, if I choose Evange... I'll probably be hurting Mathiues really badly. But he won't start killing everything and he won't be dead. _

The girl glanced at Mathiues quickly, making up her mind as she saw him begin to go at Evange, again.

_Better to save lives than feelings. I'm so sorry Mathiues._

"You guys have to stop fighting!... I don't want one of you to end up dead. Especially since I already know which of you I like."

There was instant silence, both boys pausing to focus their attention on Leah. Evange kept his lightning going, aware that Leah's answer would probably be the one he was calmly dreading.

"I, er... I like," Leah winced, "Evange."

Mathiues lowered his head, his heart thumping painfully as his body ached.

_She doesn't like me and I made a fool of myself..._

He took a deep breath, attempting a smile for Leah. But the girl was looking only at the ground, knowing she would probably regret her words soon. She also didn't see the smugness that covered every inch of Evange's face.

Gladiator sighed in relief, sidling to the fire and sitting down slowly. He was only too glad the situation had solved itself without death. The fight had been good for the boys, had released some tension. What did the feelings of one boy matter?

"Well, I'm going to get some more firewood, I suppose." Mathiues grabbed up his sword and sheathed it, about to head to the woods but Evange stopped him.

"No, go ahead and relax, friend." The boy smiled too sweetly, "Me and the girl will get it."

_And take some time getting to know each other a bit better._

Leah looked up, "Er, well, I don't really think you need to come. I can get it myself... Plus, maybe you two should both relax. You're pretty beat up..."

"As if that little boy's primitive attacks could hurt me."

Leah raised an eyebrow, _You're bleeding and look really bad... I think that means he hurt you pretty bad, jerk._

"Besides don't you want me with you? After all don't you like me?"

The girl knew she was trapped, lowering her head and glaring at the hard ground, "Fine, you can come with me..."

_...You stupid idiot._

She slowly made her way into the woods, Evange following her with a twisted smile.

_We'll have so much fun, now, girl. Just wait and see how enjoyable my company can be._

_---------------- __  
_

Mathiues was desperately trying to remain collected, while wanting nothing more than to be swallowed by some monster.

_How could I have read Leah so wrong? I thought she liked me... I'm such an idiot._

"You really like her, eh?"

The apprentice looked at Gladiator with a small smile, nodding his head slightly. The hero was silent for a few moments, looking into the woods. When he spoke, it was in a low whisper.

"Don't give up so easily. Just because she doesn't like you now, doesn't mean she can't learn to love you later."

Mathiues' eyes widened, "Sir?"

Gladiator smiled grimly, "People don't last forever, neither do feelings. Who's to say Evange won't... be out of the picture by next week?"

_I can only hope that I'm lying, right now. I don't want to kill my son._

"You think Leah will stop liking Evange?"

The hero grunted, neither saying yes or no, but Mathiues was too filled with renewed hope to care. Just the possibility that Leah could love him someday returned him to his normal state.

_Leah, I know I can make you love me. And I can wait forever for you to realize how much you do._

The apprentice smiled slightly, pushing away any doubt, and laid down to rest. It was hard to sleep when his arm was burnt, along with his hair. Gladiator was glad he was able to offer some comfort, watching Mathiues for a moment before switching his gaze to the woods.

_But does that girl really like Evange?_ _She's playing with feelings, if she doesn't._

The hero's face hardened, his eyes narrowing.

_I'll find out what that girl **really** thinks._

_---------------- __  
_

Evange tenderly fingered his swollen face, not minding the blood, so not wiping it away. He was standing against a tree, not bothering to help Leah pick up firewood but only watching her. The boy could tell she was purposely avoiding eye contact with him, but really couldn't care at the moment.

_I have Leah all to myself, right now... I could do anything._

"Hey, Evange, can you carry some of these..."

Leah drifted off as she looked up, seeing the leer on Evange's face and flinching. She quickly turned away, trying to busy herself with something.

"Er, never mind. I can make two trips-"

Black clad arms slid around the girl's shoulders and she stiffened. Evange draped himself over Leah carefully, tucking her hair behind an ear while bringing his mouth to the other ear.

"My arms aren't broken, I'll help."

Then, Leah was left standing in the woods while Evange sauntered back towards the camp with a meager amount of firewood. The girl dug her nails into her palms, angrily picking up the rest of the wood she had gathered and stomping back to the camp.

Gladiator glanced up as she arrived, "You just missed Evange. He decided to go for a walk... Mind if we-"

Mathiues slid open one eye at Gladiator's voice, immediately spotted Leah and grinned at her.

"Leah, you're back."

_I was only gone for a little while, you know..._

The apprentice's grin faded a bit as he focused on Leah's hair, "Evange has strange tastes."

Leah blinked in confusion while Gladiator glanced at what Mathiues had spotted and nodded.

"He gets them from his mother. She's always liked things like that... Actually, I got Elvira a black rose as a gift, too."

The hero's face softened, _Evange takes after me, does he?_

Leah cleared her throat, "What brought this topic up?"

Gladiator smiled, "Evange left you a little something."

At Leah's still confused smile, Mathiues motioned the girl to bend down to him. She did so cautiously, hoping the apprentice wouldn't do anything with Gladiator so near. Mathiues reached behind Leah's ear, carefully removing a black rose.

"Oh..."

_It's kind of pretty..._

Leah took the rose from Mathiues who turned away in hope of falling asleep. Gladiator felt a glimmer of pride for his son as he saw Leah admire the closed petals of Evange's subtle gift.

"Evange is probably somewhere on the beach if you want to thank him."

Leah frowned but nodded politely to Gladiator, "I guess I should."

_The jerk probably did it on accident. Or it's something perverted. He'll probably want something disgusting in return for it._

Calmly, Leah got up and walked to the beach, glowering. Gladiator looked into the still going fire, a deep frown settling on his face.

_If she hurts Evange, I'll be sure she's hurt just as badly._

_---------------- __  
_

Evange was seated on a large piece of driftwood on the rocky beach, his knees drawn up and arms resting on them. He was looking up at the clouded over sky, noting that it was probably raining further into the island. On the beach, however, there were sparse patches of night sky still visible. The stars shone brightly, always seeming so blissfully jubilant so far above the problems of mortals.

With shuffling steps, Leah walked onto the beach, not noticing the seated Evange for a few minutes. Her gaze was captured by the dark ocean stretching away from the shore.

_Kuyo's over that sea, somewhere... I have to find him. No matter what it takes. He's my only friend, I need him._

"Come to keep me warm for the night, girl?"

Leah jumped slightly before looking towards Evange. She sent a glare at the boy before walking over to him. There was a muffled slap as the girl hit Evange on the head followed by her surprised cry.

In the dim light, Evange grinned at Leah, who he had succeeded in pulling to the ground at his feet. The girl clenched her fists, her teeth almost audibly grinding.

_I'll just thank the stupid jerk and leave. He'll probably take whatever I say the wrong way, though. _

"So, girl, want to get-"

"Thanks for the flower."

Evange blinked, withdrawing a bit, "You mean the rose?"

"Yea, thanks."

As Leah began to get up, she glanced at Evange and was surprised to see the boy averting his eyes, almost giving off the impression that he was embarrassed.

"...Evange?"

Evange frowned but didn't look at Leah, "Did you like it?"

Leah narrowed her eyes, not trusting the question or the boy behind it, "Yea, I guess..."

A sigh passed Evange's lips and he got up slowly. Without another word, Evange began to walk away, Leah looking after him in bewilderment.

_What's the matter with him?_

"Evange-"

The boy glanced over his shoulder as he walked away, "Enjoy your gift... I plan on giving you a much more _personal_ one later."

Leah narrowed her eyes in anger, digging her nails into her palms. Evange just smirked and continued walking, leaving Leah to sit on the ground by herself.

_I'm going to kill that jerk!_

_---------------- _

Here it finally is. Thanks so much for all the reviews... Mostly calling for Mathiues' death. So sorry to disappoint. But maybe he'll get what he deserves later. :)

And have you noticed that I often end a chapter off with Leah thinking Evange is a jerk? -sweatdrop-

Oh, by the by, I hadn't thought of it till now, but would you all like to be acknowledged in these little author notes? I've just been reading a lot of the older Fable fics and noticed that various authors do that. :P

...Evange really should've gone ahead and killed Mathiues._  
_


	18. Beloved Nuisance

It was early morning when the group sailed away from the island that held Knothole Glade. They had left the former captain of 'their' ship on the shore, after he had spent the last few weeks below deck drinking himself to oblivion. He had been conveniently forgotten until that morning when Mathiues had been overseeing the loading of supplies. Unluckily, the captain was fairly sober when they left him.

The captain angrily watched his ship sail away from him, noting the direction and memorizing it. Then, he set off to inform Lady Grey, his employer, of her son and husband's treachery.

Meanwhile, on the ship, Evange had found that the captain's cabin was a somewhat better place to spend his days than the deck. Which now caused Leah to fervently avoid the cabin, instead constantly staying on deck with her fellows.

Mathiues was occupied with his captain position, occasionally humbly asking assistance from the much more traveled Gladiator. And during the times when he wasn't needed, Gladiator stood at the railing and gazed into the depths of the sea.

His thoughts clashed with one another, causing the hero headaches that he did nothing to erase. Memories of his past rose from the dark corners Gladiator had pushed them into. Old images swirled through his mind, his childhood family, the first woman he had married, Lady Grey and their son, Evange.

_Do the gods hate me so much that they continue to curse me? Why torture me through my family? Are they such cowards that they don't come after me themselves?-!_

The hero continued to torture himself with painful memories, wanting nothing more than to feel the pain he had already inflicted on others. Leah had noticed Gladiator's somber mood and, after much consideration, walked to the hero, determined to at least make the man stop moping.

"Gladiator, sir..." There was a brief nod from Gladiator as Leah addressed him and then silence. The girl quietly cleared her throat, searching for something to say.

"I've heard you went through many trials to gain Lady Grey's hand."

"I suppose so, Elvira was a demanding woman and continues to be so."

"Oh..."

The conversation rapidly died and Leah didn't fail to notice that Gladiator's mood hadn't improved a bit. She was startled when the hero started a more serious topic.

"You're on a quest to save your friend. Have you realized that everything could go wrong and you could end up with innocent blood on your hands?"

_Why is he telling me this? Does he just want to spread his depressing mood to me or something?_

"Er, well, I think I'll be able to do the right thing-"

"There's no guarantee of that. Believe me, there isn't."

_I began with 'good' in my heart and look what I've done. Look how much I've been corrupted. And with no one to blame but myself._

"Oh... Well-"

"Girl!"

Again, Leah was interrupted, this time by Evange's irritated voice. Hesitantly, the girl turned towards Evange, hoping he didn't want something from her.

"You haven't visited me all this time, won't you come here so we may enjoy each other's company?"

Strangely, Evange didn't follow the 'request' with a wink or even a smirk. It seemed the boy had tasted a bit of seasickness this time around, holed up in the airless cabin that rocked continuously. Leah shrugged at Gladiator and made her way to Evange's cabin slowly, not eager to enter the boy's lair alone.

_If he even suggests anything I'm throwing him into the water and leaving him! He can swim after us if he wants to._

Mathiues watched the brief exchange until Leah disappeared into the cabin from the corner of his eye. He would've liked to stall the girl but knew that it would've been hopeless.

_When we reach land, my dear, I'll prove my love to you any way I can. I won't let that monster have you._

* * *

Evange settled himself on a chair in the cabin, closing his eyes momentarily, completely ignoring Leah as she walked in. The girl gave Evange a warning glare that wasn't noticed before turning her attention to the cabin itself. It was plain, without any human accents, utterly drab.

_I guess the captain must've not spent a lot of time in here. Or he was incredibly boring._

"Are you planning on standing there the whole time?"

The boy's eyes had slid open slightly and he now watched Leah.

"What do you expect me to do?"

As soon as she said it, Leah bit her tongue, wanting to take back the question as soon as it left her mouth. Evange only held his hand out to Leah, impatiently waiting for her to cross the room and take it.

"I'm not going to jump you, just get over here."

The girl glared but came to Evange, refusing to take his proffered hand. Evange rolled his eyes before grabbing Leah's arm and hauling her almost into his lap.

"For someone who's supposed to like me, you don't show your adoration much. Have you changed your mind about me?"

Leah tried to smile, "Of course not. I've just been enjoying the view outside."

"It's just water. And you should still have some time to see me."

_You jerk, why don't you try coming to see me if like me so much?-! ...I'm not your slave and I don't even like you!_

"Oh, er, sorry. I'll come see you later, okay?"

Another forced smile appeared on Leah's lips as she tried to pull away, but Evange only brought the girl closer, glaring. As he opened his mouth to say something, a rough wave hit the ship, causing several things to happen at once. The first of these being Evange violently turning his head away, trying to keep from being sick. The second being Mathiues seeing what he thought to be land, which caused the ship to suddenly become noisier, drowning out any sounds that might come from the cabin. The last event pushed the air from Evange's lungs, literally.

Leah's legs had slipped out from under her and she had fallen forward, into Evange. Evange took deep breaths, trying to fill his lungs while forcing away the nausea, a faint sound that was barely heard over the commotion coming from outside.

"...Are you okay?"

Leah was tentative in asking the question, especially when having to look up at Evange from his lap. Her voice seemed to startle Evange, him only just realizing where Leah was.

"Evange?"

The girl pulled on her arm, still being tightly clutched by Evange, an uncomfortable look on her face.

"I'll be fine in a moment. But I'm a bit hungry for something sweet, right now."

Evange leaned down, tightly placing his free hand on Leah's face. As for Leah, she desperately wanted to pull away, feeling more awkward than ever.

"I-I can, er, find some chocolate for you, maybe... But you have to-"

Abruptly, all noise from within the cabin ceased. Evange had claimed Leah's mouth, hungrily pressing his lips to hers. His hands strayed from their original positions, roaming the girl's body with fervor. Almost as quickly, Leah had pushed against Evange's chest as hard as she could, unbalancing the boy and causing him to fall from his perch.

"You pervert! Stay away from me!" The outburst came out as a shrill cry as Leah tried to push herself to legs that were shaking violently from anger.

_Why did he do that?-! Why is he such a freak?-! _

"I knew it," Evange laughed bitterly, glaring at Leah. "You don't like me. You've been protecting that Guild reject all along."

"Maybe I just don't like you jumping all over me like you said you wouldn't!"

"I didn't jump you, I kissed you. I had no intention of taking it any further than you wanted." Evange's face darkened, "As someone who was supposed to like me, I thought you wouldn't mind a kiss."

"Well I did mind!" Leah finally managed to lift herself to her feet, glaring at Evange before turning on her heel and starting out the door.

"Maybe you should watch that darling lover of yours, he could very well find himself dangling over the water by a noose."

The girl clenched her fists, quietly closing the door and stomping away to vent her anger at the endless waves that separated her from Kuyo. No one noticed her come out, all busy with their own agendas for the moment.

_That jerk... I can't believe him. He wouldn't really kill Mathiues, though, would he? _

The girl blew out a breath, angrily glaring into the distance.

* * *

Evange was sprawled on the bunk in the cabin, trying to close off the rocking world around him without much success. Sleep wouldn't come to him, he dreaded the dreams that might come with it, anyway. Still, anything was better than this never changing hell.

It had been several days since the boy had called Leah into the cabin. Mathiues had been disappointed to find what he had thought to be the island they were heading for was only another piece of land belonging to the island that held Knothole Glade. The ship sailed past, the ghosts working as diligently as ever while temperatures grew colder on the sea. While the temperatures dropped, the waters also grew rougher, neither of those factors improved Evange's mood.

_That stupid girl... How could she not want me?_

The boy glowered and shut his eyes as tightly as he could, trying to push down his faint pain.

_Fine, I don't need her, she's a nuisance. _

Evange's expression softened and he cracked his eyes open, but didn't see the cabin. Autumn leaves now fell around him, crunching under his small feet as he ran to someone sitting by the road. The person's face was unimportant, forgotten long ago.

There was a small fish in his small hands, found dead on the shore by him. He proudly presented it to the person, one of his various childhood nannies.

"_You're such a nuisance."_ The nanny's words were sharp and frigid.

Evange turned on his side in the bunk, frowning. The boat continued to rock and sway.

He'd wanted for someone to take as much pride in his find as he had. He had wanted to present the fish to his mother, not realizing the fish was half rotted and smelt something awful. The little boy wanted to show he wasn't a dead weight.

A strong wave hit, making the ship lurch in such a way that Evange was left struggling to keep the few contents of his stomach down. There was a faint thud on the door of the cabin, followed by voices that Evange tried to ignore.

_Be quiet! I don't want to hear your disgusting voices, anymore!_

The boy clenched his teeth, the pang of loneliness from his heart overcoming his nausea, and silently extracting a small green bottle from a pocket.

_I refuse to listen to your voices. I'll make my own silence._

With a quick movement, the contents of the bottle slid down Evange's throat. It calmed him and made his eyelids feel heavy.

_Now I won't have to hear you..._

The empty bottle slipped out of the boy's gloved hand, producing a hollow sound as it hit the floor.

* * *

This chapter is very short, but I figured that this was a good enough place to end this chapter. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner...

Criticism is welcomed with open arms, my writing is definitely far from perfect. :P


	19. Guilt Trip

_They must be seriously bored to keep bothering about me..._

Leah groaned mentally as she continued to reassure Mathiues and Gladiator that she was fine. They had both come out of nowhere to check on her when the ship had rocked a second time, sending Leah into the cabin door. She had been careful to ignore the throbbing pain of the arm that had hit the door the hardest, it wouldn't do to have everyone trying to 'repair' her.

"Are you sure you're not hurt? I could hear the thud from across the ship, I'm sure we have some medical supplies below deck."

"It's okay, Ma-"

"If you don't look after your injuries, they'll only worsen."

"I'll remember that, sir. But I'm fi-"

"Here, let me look at you."

Mathiues reached for Leah causing her to involuntarily jerk away from him. Hurt crossed the apprentice's face. Gladiator chose this time to walk away with the excuse of going to check if the excess weapons he had taken on board were still there.

"Er, I think I'll go..." The girl's voice faded off as she failed to come up with a suitable excuse. Mathiues didn't seem to mind. He brought one hand up to Leah's face and left it there for a moment.

"Leah, what were you doing in front of _his_ cabin, anyway?"

_To make up with the jerk. I can't risk him killing anyone, even if he deserves me being mad at him!_

"I was just going to check on Evange. I thought he might still be feeling a little seasick and I wanted to make sure he was doing okay..."

"Do you really love him?"

The girl quickly tried to wipe her face clean but she had no need, the door she was still standing in front of swung out. Leah was thrown to the side as the door slammed open, Mathiues quickly kneeling to check her. A sharp blast of pain knocked Mathiues away from Leah with a cry of pain.

Evange emerged from the cabin, sweat glistening on his drawn face as he tried to stay upright. Obviously his sickness hadn't evaporated. He turned his gaze to Leah who lay on the ground, her arm throbbing more than it had before. A cold shiver ran down her as she met Evange's eyes.

"Evange! What are you doing?!" Gladiator hurried up to the group, his sword held in one hand. He glanced at Mathiues who lay on the ground twitching from Evange's lightning attack and his eyes became hard. "Will you force me to swing my sword, boy?"

The boy didn't respond, didn't even show he had heard his father speak. He lifted one arm towards Leah, an angry red glow circled it.

"Boy! Listen!"

Gladiator took a step forward, lifting his sword menacingly. Still, Evange seemed to see no one but the girl at his feet. Leah was frozen, not trusting Evange after what he had just done. Besides that, her head still hadn't stopped spinning.

"W-what do you want... you jerk?"

Leah managed a half-hearted glare, and she cast it on Evange with as much energy as she could muster. His hand extended towards her farther, that angry fire still wrapping itself around it. Gladiator growled out his last warning before lifting his sword and swinging it at Evange.

There was a split second in which Leah tried to dissuade herself from the decision she had already made. But after that, the girl latched onto Evange's hand and pulled him down to her.

The Sword of Aeons missed it's intended target but did manage to inflict a bloody wound on the boy's raised back. The pain must have ripped Evange from the delusions he had cast upon himself with the help of his special potion because he cried out in true pain, falling limp in Leah's arms.

"Evange?!"

* * *

When the boy opened his eyes again, he didn't recognize the strange feeling he woke up to. Nor did he know why a clouded sky was spread above him instead of the wooded ceiling of the cabin. 

"...need to start going, you know. Who knows what kind of condition they've been keeping your friend in."

_Oh shut your mouth, Father. You make it sound as if you know everything._

"I know. But Evange still hasn't woken up, yet." Leah's voice was flat.

"That doesn't matter, we'll just leave him on the boat and keep going. We don't have time to waste."

_You're not leaving me on the water, little boy. I'm fine!_

Evange tried to voice his thoughts but all that passed his lips was a raspy groan, and he closed his eyes again. The conversation quickly turned to the boy, and he felt cold hands on his face.

"Boy, are you up?"

"...Yes." Even that one word was hard to push around his swollen tongue.

"Good, we're leaving now, everyone. I'll scout ahead for now, hurry yourselves." Gladiator's voice faded away, but the cold hands on Evange's face remained.

"I'll get some water." Faint footsteps as Mathiues went off.

Leah's voice was quiet as she spoke to him, but he could hear the barely concealed frustration in it.

"Evange, can you stand?"

_It doesn't look like Gladiator is going to wait for us. He's almost as much of a jerk as Evange! I can't believe he won't apologize for doing this to his son._

The boy slowly opened his eyes while he tried to get a feel for his body. Leah swiftly removed her hands from his face as he did so. Evange tried to raise himself but a sharp pain in his back caused him to bite back a cry of pain and he fell back to the ground.

"What did you do to me?" The question lashed out at Leah as Evange tried again to rise and failed.

"_Me_? I wasn't the one who took a chunk out of your back!"

Evange leveled his gaze at the girl, "Then who did?"

"...Here, I'll help you up."

Leah placed one hand beneath Evange's head and the other below the gash on his back. She drew him up and ignored his pained gasp as well as his question.

"Sorry, Gladiator decided we'd need all our healing potions for the possible fight ahead. Or else I would've given you one by now."

"He always comes up with excuses, you need not echo them."

Leah frowned, "He wouldn't let me or Mathiues have any, either, you know."

"You're hurt?"

The girl bit her tongue, she hadn't meant to say that part.

"I'm fi-"

Too late, Evange had already found what he was looking for and he pulled Leah's arm to him. An angry burn was spread over it.

"When did this happen, girl? Did you stick your arm in a fire to see if it actually hurt?"

The boy sneered to hide his concern and Leah retaliated by glaring at him while telling the truth.

"_You're_ the one who did it."

Evange's sneer seemed frozen in place before he chuckled a bit and turned his face away.

"Of course, blame _me_. I probably did it to shut your mouth, wench."

Leah's glare hardened and without a word of warning she got up and stalked off. The boy couldn't watch her walk away, he was stricken with an alien feeling. Guilt. It was rare that guilt would make an appearance in Evange, and when it did he usually managed to push it away. Just as he managed to push it away this time.

* * *

While Leah was off somewhere, Mathiues came back with a bucket of water. His face wasn't exactly cheerful when he saw Evange up. 

"You're looking more alive... Where did Leah go?"Mathiues set the water down near Evange.

"Why don't you go find her? She seems to favor your company over mine." The boy's voice was acidic.

The apprentice sighed, "I could only wish that."

Evange looked up at Mathiues with barely concealed curiosity, "What do you mean by that?"

"You burn her, yet she hovers over you the entire time you're sleeping. As if _she's _the one who's supposed to feel guilty."

Mathiues straightened himself, avoiding Evange's eyes. Evange had noticed that Mathiues had gained a few new scars, ones that looked suspiciously like ones that resulted from lightning spells.

"...I _am _human. I do feel guilt."

Mathiues glanced back, "Why are you telling me that? I don't care."

Evange winced and looked down as Mathiues went to eat some of his meat.

_Why did I tell him? Of course I know no one cares about what I feel. _

The boy resisted the urge to shake his head free of those thoughts. He was quite aware of Mathiues sitting nearby and watching him subtly. Still, Evange needed to do something to rid himself of his self-pitying thoughts.

Mathiues was calmly chewing on a piece of his meat and distracted by a low constant whistling in the distance when he felt something hit him on his neck. The apprentice dropped his meat and quickly turned around, thinking something might be attacking. All he saw was a innocently grinning Evange... with a multitude of pebbles in his gloved hands.

When Gladiator walked back into camp, he stopped in shock. Evange and Mathiues, obvious rivals, were throwing rocks at each other while laughing. And more than that, laughing together in good humor.

_Has the boy gone out of his mind?_

* * *

The island they had come to wasn't very big, smaller than both Hook Coast's and Witchwood's islands. It was heavily forested with a rocky beach. The clearing that the group had made camp in was made only with the help of Gladiator's force push and even then it was small. So it was no surprise that Leah could find no clearing to rest in at the moment. 

The girl sat herself down on a long fallen tree, crossing her arms and trying to stay angry. Unfortunately, she was having a hard time.

_He just woke up, I shouldn't have let him make me so mad. He was probably just tired... I should head back, I can't delay us anymore from finding Kuyo._

Leah nodded to herself and turned back but stopped. Her fists clenched in anger.

_But I'll make him apologize, still... He won't get away with being mean to me._

With her mind set, Leah began to head back, whistling as she went. Luckily, she'd remembered to leave herself a trail to lead her way back. Unluckily, the girl hadn't realized how far away she had walked. It took a good chunk of time before Leah heard the rumble of masculine laughter.

At first, she worried that someone else had come into camp and made trouble for the others. But she caught Mathiues' voice and threw that thought out.

_They sound happy, I wonder what's up? They're probably insulting each other again or something..._

Leah frowned and broke through the tree line, ready to reprimand them but was shocked, as Gladiator had been, by the sight in front of her. All three "men" were sitting in a rough circle and firing pebbles at each other... While laughing...

"...I must've fallen off a cliff in that forest, and now I'm dreaming."

At the sound of Leah's voice, Mathiues rose from his pebbles and came over to the girl smiling. He started telling her about the game they had been playing. Gladiator quieted his laughter without moving. But Evange, whose laugh had been hidden beneath theirs, didn't look at Leah. He quietly brushed aside his pebbles while turning away.

"...Would you like to play, Leah? Maybe you could help me beat Evange, he's-"

"I think it's better if we rested. We should head farther in when it gets dark."

Gladiator spoke calmly, still smiling, but something in his voice told them there would be no argument. Mathiues gave Leah a faint smile and shrug as he went to douse the small fire. The girl glanced at Evange but his back was turned.

_I ruined their fun, didn't I? I don't know what Evange's problem is... **He **was the one being mean to me. _

Leah sighed while lying down.

_Maybe he'll tell me what his problem is if I'm nice to him. _

The girl and sun both began their descent into darkness, Leah resolved to test her new idea later on.

* * *

Well, it's been awhile, eh? -sweatdrop-

I've been so occupied, lately. "Luckily" I got the flu and had some free time recently. Isn't the flu just wonderful? -.-

...My editor thinks Evange is _so_ cute when he's guilt-ridden. -giggles-


	20. Dangerous Reunion

The weak sliver of moon didn't bother trying to illuminate the ground through the thick tree branches. Which left Leah stumbling through the dark, wishing Gladiator hadn't banned the use of lights to help them through the woods.

_Stupid hero... Just because him and his son are bloody bats-_

Leah's thoughts scattered as her foot caught a root and sent her into a clump of ferns.

"Watch your step..."

The girl quickly drew herself back up and glared at the darkness in front of her.

"You couldn't have told me that a second before?!"

Evange materialized to her right, "Just keep moving and follow me."

"I can't follow you if I can't _see _you!"

The boy slid in front of Leah and grabbed her hand. The girl stiffened in surprise as Evange pulled her behind him.

"Now, isn't this so much better? So romantic, don't you think?"

Leah gritted her teeth, _He's such a jerk!_

After a few minutes of walking without mishap, the girl did have to admit that it was a better method than blindly stumbling through the dark... And she was able to ignore the fact that Evange was holding her hand after a bit, too. Evange, however, stayed quite aware of the hand he held.

His thoughts went slowly, lingering over Leah. The boy wove through the trees by instinct now, because his eyes were seeing other things. Perhaps things that Evange shouldn't have been thinking about at the moment as he stepped out from under the trees...

"Evange! Are you insane?!"

Leah tugged on the boy's hand to pull him back into the tree cover. Just in front of them was a vast clearing fringed with faint lights. And in the center of the clearing stood a narrow building, more a tower than anything else, with two inhuman sentries by it's doors. There were only two windows facing Evange and Leah and both spilled weak blue light out.

"Did you plan on just walking out there? You have no idea how many people there could be over there... You could've been hacked-"

"Quiet!" Evange hissed out the word as he swiftly covered Leah's mouth with one hand. He had seen the sentries before Leah though he couldn't tell what they were.

_Too big for hobbes, too broad for balverines... They can't be humans, the heads are too small and the bodies still too broad. Damn Father, where is he?_

Leah pushed Evange's hand away angrily, "What? Did you see something?"

"I told you, be quiet!" Again the boy made to cover Leah's mouth, but that wouldn't work a second time.

"Just tell me, jerk!" Shot from her mouth as she slapped Evange's hand away.

The slapping sound seemed to echo across the clearing. Evange grabbed Leah's arm roughly and tried to retreat farther into the trees. He was stopped as the line of trees in front of him burst into blue flame.

"Shit, take this and go!" Evange shoved his Guild seal into Leah's hands.

"Evange, I'm not going to run away!"

Leah found herself yelling at no one, Evange had already turned back to the clearing. She gripped the Guild seal fiercely before stuffing it into a pocket. Quickly, she pulled out her ax and walked to the edge of the trees.

The faint lights that had hung on the skirts of the clearing had seemingly come to life. There was at least a dozen and all were hovering around one spot, their laughter shrill as they danced in the air. The lights were so thick around the spot that Leah couldn't see what was happening with Evange.

_What is he thinking?!_

Leah shouldered her ax and ran at the lights, realizing that they were nymphs as she did. With the realization came a cold dread. How was she supposed to help fight against so many nymphs when she'd never really fought before?

A circle of flame blew away some of the nymphs, allowing Leah her first clear look at the fight. Wasps and scorpions had been summoned by the nymphs and surrounded Evange in great clouds. The two sentries had been temporarily blown away from the fiery blast but they were soon up and attacking with their staffs.

"Evange!"

The girl cried out in vain, her heart squeezing painfully as she saw the blood staining Evange's back and face. Obviously his back wound had reopened. And he was going to die if he continued fighting. Leah gripped her ax tighter and ran at the wall of nymphs, bringing her ax down on the shoulder of a low flying one. The nymph let out a string of high pitched shrieks before turning on Leah along with a few of her fellows.

_I can't sit back and watch Evange die. I'm going to help at least a little!_

Despite her new resolution, Leah didn't have much of a chance to help Evange before one of the nymphs effectively took the girl out of the battle. The nymph had simply raised thick roots from the ground and twisted them around Leah to make a cage.

"No! Let me out!" Leah didn't have enough room to swing her ax so she pounded on the roots and tried to rip at them.

_Evange, you jerk, stay alive!_

* * *

Gladiator and Mathiues moved through the thick trees carefully, both with weapons close to hand. Mathiues hadn't dared complain about the things he kept running into in the dark to the mighty hero. And Gladiator hadn't bothered to notice the apprentice's clumsiness. They were a wonderfully silent team. 

Currently, Mathiues was trying to follow Gladiator without tripping but caught his foot on something and was sent into a tree. The tree cracked loudly as it's rotted mass started tumbling forward. Almost immediately after the tree fell low howls filled the woods. Gladiator sighed as he drew the Sword of Aeons. Mathiues nervously rubbed his arm before bringing out his own sword.

_Maybe I should've mentioned that I couldn't see in the dark?... I must be so annoying._

"Sounds like balverines. If a white one comes, don't even try fighting it unless you've got some silver on you. If things get too rough get back to shore and see if you can hold your ground at the beach. Understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good," Gladiator nodded his head and took a deep breath.

But the two were never engaged in battle, an explosion from deep in the forest made the trees sway and bend. Gladiator grabbed Mathiues and dragged the apprentice to the ground, covering him with one arm. There was hardly a need to, the explosion ended suddenly and only silence followed it.

"Sir, could that have been Leah and Evange?"

The hero's heart clenched, "We'd best hurry."

The balverines seemed to have vanished since they didn't come across as they went. Gladiator pulled Mathiues behind him as he nearly ran towards the place some trees now leaned away from. He had little hope that Evange wasn't involved in the explosion.

_Boy, what trouble could you possibly get yourself into so fast?_

It didn't take more than a few minutes to reach the clearing the Evange and Leah had come upon, but to Gladiator it felt like ages.

"Looks like this is where it happened... But there's no one here now, sir."

Mathiues swivelled his head to take in the clearing. He noted the smoldering remains of a building as he looked around. No human bodies were around, though.

"Whatever made this explosion cleared out pretty fast. What made it, sir?"

Gladiator dragged a hand down his face, "I don't know. We'd better get out of here, though. Someone might come back to clean this up. Follow me closer this time, alright?"

Mathiues nodded without looking back.

* * *

"The beasts'll go crazy over the blood on this one... Not that they'll be getting much meat off him." 

A harsh voice echoed down to Kuyo's ears. He wanted to lift his head but Uuls had been strict about what Kuyo couldn't do.

"Yeah, that one's skin an' bones. What do ya see in him, girl? Don't you want a man with a li'l more meat on his bones?"

There was a chorus of raucous laughter before two of the regular beast care takers walked into the cavern. Two unfamiliar scents wafted in with them... Or? Did that scent smell slightly like...

_The girl?! What's she doing here? _

Kuyo desperately fought the urge to lift his head and see if his nose was right.

"Huh, don't give the big guy anything. This wouldn't be anything more than a snack to him. Give the boy to the little one."

The two men dumped off their load and their voices faded into the distance. Uuls slowly raised his head and sniffed, making sure everything was alright.

"_Kuyo, you may eat this one. Won't make much of a difference."_

Kuyo shot up but ignored the boy at his feet. He had eyes only for the girl tied up by Syl's tail. Despite the time apart, Kuyo still recognized Leah.

"_Syl! Don't eat her!"_

Syl, who had been napping, glanced at Kuyo then to her food. She let her tongue slide out and taste the air by Leah before smiling. Well, what dragons would consider a smile.

"_It'd taste delicious. And why shouldn't I eat it? Hasn't it's filthy kind dragged me here?"_

"_I won't let you! I have to take care of her!"_

There was a moment of silence in which Leah managed to turn herself to face away from Syl and towards Evange. But even as she looked at Evange she noticed the dragon over her friend.

"Kuyo! Kuyo don't touch him!"

Leah tried to crawl forwards but found even that was impossible with ropes encircling her. So she was left yelling to Kuyo, her words a mix between joy over seeing her friend again and despair that he'd eat Evange. Kuyo caught the girl's gaze and tried to relay the message for her to be quiet.

"_What's so special about this human filth that you want to protect it?"_ Syl opened her mouth wider as she moved closer to Leah's back.

Ignoring the question Kuyo stepped around Evange to face Syl, _"I'll fight to the death for her!"_

"_Fine then, come at me, tiny one!"_ Syl roared but was cut off by Uuls slamming his massive tail into the ground.

"_Silence! We cannot kill each other, fools! If the human is so important take it Kuyo. Syl, do not make anymore trouble! Another human will be brought later. You won't starve in the meantime."_

Syl bared her fangs angrily but only turned her face away. Kuyo quickly went to Leah and picked her up by the back of her clothes with his teeth. He carried her back to his space and then laid down tiredly. He hadn't eaten much in the past week and he was easily drained.

Leah was looking up at Kuyo thankfully.

"Kuyo, I've missed you. Don't worry, we'll get you out of here... But first, Evange..."

Leah looked over at Evange's limp body with concern. The back of his robes was caked in dried blood and a long gash ran along one side of his face. His gloves were in tatters, mostly burned off as well as the skin of his hands.

_That last spell he used must've done a lot of damage on him... It did save us from the nymphs, but not from those people. _

"Evange? ...Evange?" Leah looked around for something to cut her bindings off with.

Kuyo noticed, placed his head next to the girl and opened his mouth. Leah smiled gratefully before running the rope on her hands over one of Kuyo's fangs. The rope snapped quickly and Leah threw her arms around the dragon in thanks. Then she undid the rest of her bindings and went to Evange.

"Evange... Don't die, okay? We've got to get out of here together. Understand?"

The girl gently lifted Evange onto her lap and cradled his head. She felt Kuyo wrap himself around her and relaxed.

"We're all going to get out of here alive... I promise..."

* * *

And there we go. The chapter wouldn't upload for the longest time - not sure why. -sweatdrop- 

I'm feeling much better! Although it's freezing here! But that means that schools close so it's all good with me. :D

Thankies for all the reviews, they're much loved! (I'll just respond to the few for this chapter, though.)

LoveroftheFlame : Too bad Leah's too busy being a butt to be nice... :P

Pope-Man : I'm sorry about the thoughts thing. I have no clue how to make it more clear. Any suggestions would be much welcome. :D

Isuma : Yes, Mathiues managed to not do anything for one whole chapter. :O Amazing, isn't it?

Dark : Missing PE in general pwnz. :D

...Leah's going to have fun when Evange wakes up in her arms. -giggles-


	21. Alone Again

_Gently, Gently_... Leah winced as she tried to move Evange from her lap. Her legs had cramped up hours ago and she needed to change position. However, it was hard to move the boy. His clothes were stiff with dried blood, where they didn't stick to his wounds.  
Leah desperately wished Evange would wake up and heal himself. She wished Kuyo had never been captured. Wished she had never heard Evange's name.  
But now, looking down at the boy's weary face. Leah realized she needed Evange. Whether he was just a comrade or something more didn't matter. The girl only knew that she needed his comfort. Comfort that would come through the mocking laughter in his eyes and the smirk on his lips.  
_Why won't you wake up? Do you hate me so much?_

* * *

Several uneventful hours passed, Leah had resigned herself to staring into space. Sleep evaded her and Kuyo was too absorbed in his own thoughts. There was nothing to do but sit and wait for fate. Cruel fate who had thrown all this sorrow at Leah.  
Syl shifted her weight, her scales scraping the ground with a noise that could wake the dead. Which it seemed to do.  
Evange moaned softly, his eyes flickering. Leah abruptly straightened.  
"Evange? Are you-"  
Another soft moan from the boy accompanied a faint smirk. The girl ignored the smirk, praying that it was just something Evange did when he woke up. And not him having a... pleasant dream.  
"Mmm, girl, you taste as delicious as you smell..." His tongue flicked over his lips.  
Leah froze except for a tic in her eye. It would take all her willpower not to hit Evange.  
"...And you feel so good."  
_He's hurt... He doesn't know what he's doing. He's not thinking about **me**. He's just dreaming... He can't control himself..._  
"Hey, girl, are you lonely?"  
_That was oddly coherent... _Leah glanced down, her fury coming to fruition as she saw Evange's open eyes. _He was awake the whole time?!_  
"You pervert!" The girl raised a hand to smack Evange but stopped herself.  
_He's wounded, you idiot! Don't hurt him now... Just wait till he's healed._  
"Eh heh... Evange, you're awake." Leah tried to smile naturally, "Maybe you could heal your wounds now? ...So that we could get out of here..."  
"Hmm, but I am so comfortable here." Evange nuzzled his face into Leah's stomach.  
"Well, you should still heal yourself. You'll be a lot more _comfortable_ afterwards."  
The boy caught Leah's gaze, "I'll heal myself if you let me stay right here."  
_What?! He gets to stay there either way! No... I'll just push him off once he's healed. We need to get out of here, so it won't really count as breaking a promise or anything...  
_"Fine. Just hurry up."  
Evange nodded, closing his eyes as he began his task. "By the by, where are we?"  
"I guess a prison... I don't know. You've probably been in more than I have... you don't recognize it?"  
"You expect me to know the inside of a prison?"  
Leah shrugged, "You're certainly enough of a jerk to get a lot of people angry."  
"Hah! As if anyone would lock up Lady Grey's son... Besides, I've done nothing."  
"I find that hard to believe."  
_As you should. I'm vile and wicked, aren't I? _Evange sighed.  
"I don't suppose you know why we're also surrounded by dragons?"  
The girl blinked, "Um, I guess... they're prisoners, too? I don't really know..."  
"You don't know very much. Yet you were the one who was awake this whole time."  
"Where do you expect me to get this information from? Do you see a helpful tour guide around here?!"  
"I expect you to think about what's happening and how to deal with it." Evange fully opened his eyes to level a cold glare at the girl.  
_I was worrying about __**you**__, you jerk!_  
Leah bit back that reply, "Just hurry up and heal, jerk."  
"Already did, love."  
"Great!" Leah beamed as she shoved Evange off herself. "I'm glad you're completely healed  
Smack!  
The paleness of Evange's freshly healed skin was marred by the bright hand print Leah left. The boy clenched his hands while getting up.  
"Girl, perhaps you should just keep away from me. I don't need an emotional little girl attacking me." Evange turned his back to Leah, "In fact, I don't need you at all."  
_I need no one._  
The boy calmly walked towards the exit of the cavern. There was no true door because the dragons were too big to fit through the exit, anyway. A door would've only hindered the escape of any of the worker's from a hungry dragon. So, Evange planned to simply walk out.  
"Evange?" Leah's voice was meek.  
But did Evange care? No. He wasn't going to let the girl control his life. He wasn't going to simply watch her trample over him time and time again. He was a person, even if Leah didn't realize it.  
"Evange!" Leah got up haphazardly and took a step after Evange. He didn't even look back. The girl clenched her hands but went no further towards the exit- how could she abandon Kuyo?  
_Evange... you're not supposed to leave me here alone._

* * *

Luckily for Evange, the halls of the prison were empty. There were no sounds... but that only made Leah's last yell seem so much louder, so much more abandoned.  
_I'm doing nothing wrong by leaving. This was never any of my business. The girl never told me the whole story, anyway. She was definitely lying about liking me... I'm worth absolutely nothing to her. Hah! But she's worth even less than __**that **__to me._  
The boy smiled to himself, twisting his mind to believe the words he said.  
_Yes, I'll simply walk out of here and leave that girl in the past. She was a lovely source of amusement, at least.  
_"Everyone's set up, then? You're sure? _Sir_ Henry will have my head if someone's an inch out of place."  
Evange hastily looked for some place to hide, to no avail. _I'll just keep walking... maybe they won't even notice me._  
"Of course I made sure. Do you think I'm daft?"  
Two men rounded the corner, both in white robes.  
_Damn, does this place have uniforms? _Evange cursed his ill luck.  
"Well, yes, sometimes..." The man talking suddenly noticed Evange and stopped. "Hey, who are you?"  
"Hmm?" Evange looked into the man's eyes innocently, "You mean me? I was just taking a walk."  
"This is no place for an idiot without his robes to be walking around. Come along, the balverines haven't yet been fed." The men were surprisingly calm as they told Evange of his intended death.  
"Oh, I'm afraid that would be inconvenient for me." The boy smiled widely, "I've places to be. Women to get away from. You understand."  
The men ignored Evange and reached for the boy's arms. Evange quietly let them do so, then smiled as he sent lightning coursing through the men.  
"Sir? I have urgent reports for you to look- Sir!" A young girl had appeared but turned right around when she saw what was happening. She raced down the halls while screaming an alert.  
_Damn it,_ Evange frowned and shook off his would-be imprisoners. They slumped to the floor in dazes. The boy started back the way he came, hoping he could find some unguarded exit.  
"Kuyo... what am I going to do?"  
Evange clenched his teeth as he heard that voice. He wanted to confidently stride past the opening to her "cell," but her voice was so pitiful.  
_She was just a stupid girl. Who cares?!_  
With a hardened heart, Evange did walk past the opening without looking back. He refused to care... He could only worry about himself.

* * *

Leah was slumped against Kuyo, completely unaware of the trouble Evange had already gotten himself into. Kuyo, however, could just hear the commotion.  
_"Kuyo," _Uuls spoke with harsh authority, _"Throw that human out."_  
_"What?!"  
"She'll hinder you, and the time is nearing for you to fly! Push her out the door now!"  
_Kuyo snarled at Uuls, causing Leah to edge away from him. She had no desire to get between fighting dragons.  
"I don't you should be picking fights, right now, Kuyo..."  
Syl let out a rumbling laugh, _"Listen to your human. You're nothing more than a baby!"  
"I'm not! And I won't lose her!"  
"That's enough," _Uuls glared at Kuyo before switching his gaze to Leah, _"make her leave. Or I'll devour her now."_  
Kuyo didn't doubt Uuls' words and he howled in pain. Leah was caught in Uuls' eyes, unable to think for the moment. She would have been easy prey for Uuls, luckily Kuyo loved his friend. He pushed Leah towards the opening forcefully.  
_"Leave! Run away! Go follow your mate!"_ Kuyo wouldn't look Leah in the eyes. He didn't want her to see his pain.  
"Kuyo?" Leah finally regained her senses, "I don't want to leave you... I've tried so hard to get here. To save you! I can't leave you here."  
_"Leave... I'll be fine. I've got an escape plan... Leave!"_  
"Kuyo... what am I going to do?" Leah willed herself to turn away, however. She had to trust Kuyo. She could do nothing else.  
_You better live Kuyo... I'll be waiting for you._  
With tears welling up in her eyes, Leah ran out into the hall. She looked down the hall and noticed someone quickly walking away from her.  
_Evange?_

* * *

"Well, this is odd..." Mathiues' statement was obvious, but there was no denying it.  
The hero and apprentice had happened upon a clearing at the edge of a cliff. Not an empty clearing, either.  
_Looks like someone turned Bargate inside out._  
Gladiator had made a near perfect comparison. The clearing was in fact full of many "prison cells," apparently all full. A large keep was situated near the woods, though a fair distance from where Mathiues and Gladiator had emerged.  
"Sir, I didn't know that there were prisons other than Bargate in Albion."  
"Because there aren't supposed to be any." Gladiator frowned, "I have no idea who built this place."  
"So, this is probably what we've been looking for."  
Gladiator ignored Mathiues, "If they've been captured, they're probably here somewhere."  
It took a moment for Mathiues to figure out who Gladiator meant by "they." When he did, his heart jumped into his throat.  
_Leah?! She's in this horrible place? I've got to save her!_  
"Hold on," the hero read Mathiues' expression, "we have to think a bit before barging in. Get a handle on things... We don't even know if these people are enemies or allies, so calm down."  
"But... Leah... I can't sit still while she's being held in a dirty cell!"  
"Well you'll have to." Gladiator turned away, effectively closing the subject. "Now, the best way to gather information about a prison is to ask the prisoners... We'd best stay together in case something goes wrong."  
Mathiues clenched his hands but nodded his consent.  
_If only I was strong enough to save you by myself, Leah... Because, until then, I can do nothing but follow the orders of the strong._

* * *

So... I guess I finally wrote a new chappie. FINALLY.  
I lost inspiration for awhile there, eh? -sweatdrop-  
Hmm, I could make excuses till tomorrow but you'd be bored... So, uh, you can blame it on me :D Yay!  
Oh, since I got an age question... Evange --> early twenties, Leah --> mid-late teens, Mathiues --> mid-late teens. Gladdie's just old. :D 


End file.
